The speaker is in a state of deep regret, wishing he could take back all the tears and sighs he once wasted on earthly attachments—what he now calls idolatry. He longs for those emotions to return so he can use them properly this time, to mourn with real spiritual purpose instead of in vain. There’s a painful recognition that his past suffering was itself sinful, and now that he repents, he must still suffer for having suffered over the wrong things. The mood is one of trapped anguish. He looks at other sinners—the drunkard, the thief, the lustful, the proud—and envies them because they at least have memories of past pleasures to ease their present pains. But for him, grief is all he has: his prolonged sorrow is both the sin and its punishment, the cause and the effect, leaving him no escape. It’s a tightly wound, relentless lament.
Holy Sonnet III: O Might Those Sighs And Tears Return Again — Summary
O might those sighs and tears return again Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent, That I might in this holy discontent Mourn with some fruit, as I have mourned in vain; In mine Idolatry what showers of rain Mine eyes did waste! what griefs my heart did rent! That sufferance was my sin; now I repent; 'Cause I did suffer I must suffer pain. Th' hydropic drunkard, and night-scouting thief, The itchy lecher, and self-tickling proud Have the remembrance of past joys for relief Of comming ills. To (poor) me is allowed No ease; for long, yet vehement grief hath been Th' effect and cause, the punishment and sin.