Ardent: thank you so much for your very, very thoughtful comments!

As far as the archaic language is concerned, I would genuinely recommend that you find one of those modern language "translations" of Shakespeare if that's the barrier you have to reading his works. If not, some can be found online - there are many to be found indeed!

I think you picked up of one of my intentions so well: the capability of Shakespeare to be seen as worship text. I believe that every love song has a sacred, worship-like quality to it ... especially if, like me right now, one is single but writing love songs anyway ... one has to imagine an imaginary lover to write them to - and, from there, the worship element is not far away. So yes, the choice of instrumentation in that way was indeed deliberate - thanks so much for noticing! I haven't actually ever attended a black church service, but I have seen many on YouTube, so I think I know what you mean! Shakespeare's text itself, also, has so many worship-linked words: "sin ... saint ... prayer ...", etc., and he directly compares love, kissing, etc., to holy acts of prayer and worship. So ... yes, definitely! - thanks for noticing this!

Again, thank you so much for your kind words. PLEASE try a modern edition of Shakespeare, in this case ... it will really, really, really change your life, I feel - it has immensely changed mine. THANKS again!!! :-)

My website