SHAKESPEARE SONNETS FROM 11 TO 20
11
As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth
convertest. Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase:
Without this, folly, age and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store, Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish:
Look, whom she best endow’d she gave the more; Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty
cherish:
She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.
12
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 silver’d 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.
13
O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are No longer yours than you yourself 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.
14
