English poem
Sonnet 13: O! that you were your self; but, love you are
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.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 136: If thy soul check thee that I come so near
- Sonnet 137: Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes
- Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth
- Sonnet 139: O! call not me to justify the wrong
- Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
- Sonnet 141: In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes
- Sonnet 142: Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate
- Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch