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Marguerite
SONNET NO. 71 No longer mourn for me when I am dead,
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell;
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe,
0, if (I say) you look upon this verse,
When I (perhaps) compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay,
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.
Here Bacon tells Marguerite not to mourn for him after his
death, that if she reads this sonnet-to forget who wrote it
because he loves her so much that he would rather be forgotten
if remembrance should make her woe (grieve for him). That if
she reads this when he is dead (compounded (mixed) with clay)
not to rehearse (repeat) his name but let her love die with him
in case the world should wonder why she mourned him (look
into her lamentation (moan) ) and mock (deride) her with him
after he had died. (See 72 and 32.)
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