My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks ….

I love to hear her speak, -- yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go, --
My mistress when she walks, tread on the ground;
…..And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
…..As any she belied with false compare.

❦ Sonnet CXXX

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Note: The beautiful rose shown above is not technically a “damask” rose, but it is a famous ancestor of the "damask" roses, a beautiful red-and-white-striped Gallica rose, well-known during Shakespeare’s time, called Rosa Mundi (Rosa Gallica Versicolor). Rosa Mundi is actually named for Rosamund Clifford (Fair Rosamund), mistress of Henry II.

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