The Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics/Book 1/Poem 3
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 64 (Shakespeare).
iii
TIME AND LOVE
1
When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced
The rich proud cost of out-worn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
The rich proud cost of out-worn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay.
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate—
That Time will come and take my Love away:
Or state itself confounded to decay.
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate—
That Time will come and take my Love away:
—This thought is as a death, which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.
W. Shakespeare
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.
W. Shakespeare