The speaker starts with a sigh of regret, admitting he’s made a spectacle of himself, cheapened his own feelings, and looked at truth from a skewed angle. He’s been fickle, hurting his deepest affections by chasing after new ones. Yet he sees now that those stumbles actually refreshed his heart and taught him, through worse experiences, that his old love is the best. He’s through with testing newer lovers to prove an older friend; he calls that friend a god in love, someone he’s bound to. The final couplet is a tender plea: welcome me back, let me rest against your pure and loving breast. The mood is one of weary, honest remorse mixed with quiet hope. It’s a confession that doesn’t hide weakness but turns it into a reason for deeper devotion.
Sonnet 110: Alas! 'tis true, I have gone here and there — Summary
Alas! 'tis true, I have gone here and there, And made my self a motley to the view, Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear, Made old offences of affections new; Most true it is, that I have look'd on truth Askance and strangely; but, by all above, These blenches gave my heart another youth, And worse essays prov'd thee my best of love. Now all is done, save what shall have no end: Mine appetite I never more will grind On newer proof, to try an older friend, A god in love, to whom I am confin'd. Then give me welcome, next my heaven the best, Even to thy pure and most most loving breast.