English poem
Sonnet 123: No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: Thy pyramids built up with newer might To me are nothing novel, nothing strange; They are but dressings of a former sight. Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire What thou dost foist upon us that is old; And rather make them born to our desire Than think that we before have heard them told. Thy registers and thee I both defy, Not wondering at the present nor the past, For thy records and what we see doth lie, Made more or less by thy continual haste. This I do vow and this shall ever be; I will be true despite thy scythe and thee.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 11: As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
- Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now
- Sonnet 121: 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
- Sonnet 122: Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
- Sonnet 124: If my dear love were but the child of state
- Sonnet 125: Were't aught to me I bore the canopy
- Sonnet 126: O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
- Sonnet 127: In the old age black was not counted fair