Sonnet CLXXII:
Within my mind I keep a holy plot,
Where such ideas as wear unsullied white
May move through scenes of ever-fresh delight,
Fringed to the pale with blue forget-me-not.
Within the boundaries of this virgin spot,
No thought o’ershadowed with the primal blight—
No worldly scheme, no falsehood, grave or light—
Can by indulgence or by force be got.
Here stands an image sacredly apart
From any contact, howsoever pure—
The cloister’s goddess while the stars endure.
But why should I inform thee what thou art,
By any image, or by tropes assure
