Sonnet 99

The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love’s breath? The purple pride,
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells,
In my love’s veins thou has too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol’n thy hair;
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol’n of both,
And to his robb’ry had annexed thy breath;
But for his theft, in pride of all his growth,
A vengeful canker ate him up to death.
More flow’rs I noted, yet I none could see,
But sweet or color it had stol’n from thee.

This is the only fifteen line sonnet by Shakespeare.  Regarding line 5: In Elizabethan times, those of noble birth would trace the veins in their hands and arms with blue pencil.  This was also a common practice in the court of Louis XVI.  The expression 'blue blood" derives in part from the visibility of blue veins on pale skin.  Tan skin was considered plebian and associated with outdoor labor.