William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet XIII
O! that you
were your self; but, love you are
No longer yours, than
you your self here live:
Against this coming
end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance
to some other give:
So should that beauty
which you hold in lease
Find no determination;
then you were
Yourself again, after
yourself's decease,
When your sweet issue
your sweet form should bear.
Who lets so fair a
house fall to decay,
Which husbandry in
honour might uphold,
Against the stormy
gusts of winter's day
And barren rage of
death's eternal cold?
O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know,
You had a father: let your son say so.
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