Sonnet LV

You know that I know, my lord, that you know

I have come to take pleasure in your presence;

and you know that I know that you know I am constant.

Why then do we hesitate to greet one another?

If it is true, this hope that you give me,

if these desires are true which come over me,

break down the wall between one and the other;

hidden sorrows have twice the force.

If I love only in you, my dear lord,

that which you love most, do not be angry;

let love spring up between our two souls.

That which in your noble face I seek

is but ill-understood by humankind,

and he who wishes to see it must first die.