Sonnet 6

by William Shakespeare · (no date)
Published 01/07/1880

Then let not winter's ragged hand deface

In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd:

Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place

With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd.

That use is not forbidden usury,

Which happies those that pay the willing loan;

That's for thyself to breed another thee,

Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;

Ten times thyself were happier than thou art,

If ten of thine ten times refigur'd thee;

Then what could death do, if thou shouldst depart,

Leaving thee living in posterity?

      Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair

      To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.

#beauty #immortality #legacy #mortality #william shakespeare

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