English poem
Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time
When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 126: O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
- Sonnet 127: In the old age black was not counted fair
- Sonnet 128: How oft when thou, my music, music play'st
- Sonnet 129: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
- Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
- Sonnet 131: Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
- Sonnet 132: Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
- Sonnet 133: Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan