115
Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. 4
But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things; 8
Alas ! why, fearing of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then say, 'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest? 12
Love is a babe; then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow.
116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove: 4
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 9
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 12
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
5 reckoning: taking account of
12 the rest: the future
13 so: 'I love you best'
14 To give: giving
4 remover: inconstant
remove: depart
8 worth: power, influence
height: altitude
10 his: Time's
12 edge of doom: judgment day
