Sonnet 123

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

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.

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.

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.

      This I do vow, and this shall ever be;

      I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.

#impermanence #mortality #time #william shakespeare

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