William Shakespeare, Sonnet xvi
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify yourself in your decay
4
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours;
And many maiden gardens, yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers, [*]
8
Much liker than your painted counterfeit: [*]
So should the lines of life that life repair,
Which this, Time's pencil, or my pupil pen,
Neither in inward worth, nor outward fair, [*]
12
Can make you live yourself in eyes of men.
To give away yourself keeps yourself still;
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.
Notes
line 7: You: the original has your. Malone conceiving that your in the original is an error of the press. [ Back to text ]
line 8: Counterfeit: portrait. [ Back to text ]
line 11: Fair: beauty. The word is used in the same sense in the 18th Sonnet. [ Back to text ]
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.