William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet II
When forty
winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches
in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud
livery so gazed on now,
Will be a tatter'd
weed of small worth held:
Then being asked,
where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure
of thy lusty days;
To say, within thine
own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating
shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise
deserv'd thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer
'This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count,
and make my old excuse,'
Proving his beauty
by succession thine!
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.
|