Shakespeare in Love
The Love Poetry of William Shakespeare

To die is to be banish'd from myself;
And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her
Is self from self: a deadly punishment!
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be to think that she is by
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon;
She is my essence, and I leave to be,
If I be not by her fair influence
Foster'd, illuminated, cherished, kept alive.
I fly not death, to fly his deadly doom:
Tarry I here, I but attend on death:
But, fly I hence, I fly away from life.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona (III.i)