William Shakespeare - 9 - The Sonnets read by John Gielgud

Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge;
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge;
Even so, being full of your ne'er-cloying sweetness,
To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding;
And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness
To be diseased, ere that there was true needing.
Thus policy in love, to anticipate
The ills that were not, grew to faults assured,
And brought to medicine a healthful state
Which, rank of goodness, would by ill be cured;
   But thence I learn and find the lesson true,
   Drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.

The classic account of the Sonnets as read by John Gielgud. There is no better. A CD rip of Caedmon CD 241, originally from 1963)

''Their real subject, which gives them their lasting interest, is the transcience of love and beauty, the fallibility of love, the terrifying strength of lust, the 'continual oscillation' in a lover's mind 'between doubt at the heart of assurance and assurance at the heart of doubt...''

(Kindly seed, and if you can't find a seed for any previous poetry torrent go to the folder 'Current Poetry Torrents' and follow the instructions on the pdf.)