Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 123
123
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. 4
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. 8
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. 12
This I do vow, and this shall ever be;
I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.
2 newer: more recent
4 dressings: refashionings
5 dates: years of life
7, 8 Cf. n.
11 doth lie: doth tell us a lie
12 Made more or less: increasing and decreasing, constantly changing