From fairest creatures we desire i
That thereby beauty’s rose might n
But as the riper should by time de
His tender heir might bear his mem
But thou, contracted to thine own

When forty winters shall besiege t
And dig deep trenches in thy beaut
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed
Will be a tatter’d weed, of small
Then being ask’d where all thy bea

Look in thy glass, and tell the fa
Now is the time that face should f
Whose fresh repair if now thou not
Thou dost beguile the world, unble
For where is she so fair whose une

Unthrifty loveliness, why dost tho
Upon thyself thy beauty’s legacy?
Nature’s bequest gives nothing but
And being frank she lends to those
Then, beauteous niggard, why dost

Those hours, that with gentle work
The lovely gaze where every eye do
Will play the tyrants to the very
And that unfair which fairly doth
For never-resting time leads summe

Then let not winter’s ragged hand
In thee thy summer, ere thou be di
Make sweet some vial; treasure tho
With beauty’s treasure ere it be s
That use is not forbidden usury,

Lo! in the orient when the graciou
Lifts up his burning head, each un
Doth homage to his new—appearing s
Serving with looks his sacred maje
And having climb’d the steep—up he

Music to hear, why hear’st thou mu
Sweets with sweets war not, joy de
Why lov’st thou that which thou re
Or else receiv’st with pleasure th
If the true concord of well-tunèd

Is it for fear to wet a widow’s ey
That thou consum’st thy self in si
Ah, if thou issueless shalt hap to
The world will wail thee like a ma
The world will be thy widow and st

For shame, deny that thou bear’st
Who for thy self art so unproviden
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art belo
But that thou none lov’st is most
For thou art so possessed with mur

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fas
In one of thine, from that which t
And that fresh blood which youngly
Thou mayst call thine when thou fr
Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and i

When I do count the clock that te
And see the brave day sunk in hide
When I behold the violet past pri
And sable curls all silver’d o’er
When lofty trees I see barren of

O, that you were your self! But,
No longer yours than you yourself
Against this coming end you should
And your sweet semblance to some o
So should that beauty which you ho

Not from the stars do I my judgem
And yet methinks I have astronomy
But not to tell of good or evil lu
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons
Nor can I fortune to brief minute

When I consider every thing that
Holds in perfection but a little m
That this huge stage presenteth no
Whereon the stars in secret influe
When I perceive that men as plant

But wherefore do not you a mightie
Make war upon this bloody tyrant,
And fortify your self in your deca
With means more blessèd than my ba
Now stand you on the top of happy

Who will believe my verse in time
If it were fill’d with your most h
Though yet, heaven knows, it is bu
Which hides your life and shows no
If I could write the beauty of yo

Shall I compare thee to a summer’
Thou art more lovely and more temp
Rough winds do shake the darling b
And summer’s lease hath all too sh
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven

Devouring Time blunt thou the lio
And make the earth devour her own
Pluck the keen teeth from the fier
And burn the long-lived phoenix, i
Make glad and sorry seasons as tho

A woman’s face with Nature’s own
Hast thou, the master-mistress of
A woman’s gentle heart, but not ac
With shifting change, as is false
An eye more bright than theirs, le

So is it not with me as with that
Stirred by a painted beauty to his
Who heaven it self for ornament do
And every fair with his fair doth
Making a couplement of proud compa

My glass shall not persuade me I
So long as youth and thou are of o
But when in thee Time’s furrows I
Then look I death my days should
For all that beauty that doth cove

As an unperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides h
Or some fierce thing replete with
Whose strength’s abundance weakens
So I, for fear of trust, forget t

Mine eye hath played the painter a
Thy beauty’s form in table of my h
My body is the frame wherein 'tis
And perspective it is best painter
For through the painter must you s

Let those who are in favour with t
Of public honour and proud titles
Whilst I, whom fortune of such tr
Unlooked for joy in that I honour
Great princes’ favourites their fa

Lord of my love, to whom in vassal
Thy merit hath my duty strongly kn
To thee I send this written embas
To witness duty, not to show my wi
Duty so great, which wit so poor a

Weary with toil, I haste me to my
The dear repose for limbs with tra
But then begins a journey in my he
To work my mind, when body’s work’
For then my thoughts, from far whe

How can I then return in happy pl
That am debarred the benefit of re
When day’s oppression is not eased
But day by night, and night by day
And each, though enemies to either

When, in disgrace with fortune and
I all alone beweep my outcast stat
And trouble deaf heaven with my bo
And look upon myself and curse my
Wishing me like to one more rich i

When to the sessions of sweet sile
I summon up remembrance of things
I sigh the lack of many a thing I
And with old woes new wail my dear
Then can I drown an eye, unus’d t

Thy bosom is endeared with all hea
Which I by lacking have supposed
And there reigns Love, and all Lo
And all those friends which I tho
How many a holy and obsequious tea

If thou survive my well-contented
When that churl Death my bones wi
And shalt by fortune once more re-
These poor rude lines of thy decea
Compare them with the bett’ring of

Full many a glorious morning have
Flatter the mountain-tops with sov
Kissing with golden face the meado
Gilding pale streams with heavenly
Anon permit the basest clouds to r

Why didst thou promise such a beau
And make me travel forth without m
To let base clouds o’ertake me in
Hiding thy brav’ry in their rotten
'Tis not enough that through the c

No more be grieved at that which t
Roses have thorns, and silver foun
Clouds and eclipses stain both moo
And loathsome canker lives in swee
All men make faults, and even I i

Let me confess that we two must be
Although our undivided loves are o
So shall those blots that do with
Without thy help, by me be borne a
In our two loves there is but one

As a decrepit father takes delight
To see his active child do deeds o
So I, made lame by Fortune’s dear
Take all my comfort of thy worth a
For whether beauty, birth, or weal

How can my Muse want subject to i
While thou dost breathe, that pour
Thine own sweet argument, too exce
For every vulgar paper to rehearse
O, give thyself the thanks, if aug

O, how thy worth with manners may
When thou art all the better part
What can mine own praise to mine o
And what is’t but mine own when I
Even for this let us divided live,

Take all my loves, my love, yea, t
What hast thou then more than thou
No love, my love, that thou mayst
All mine was thine, before thou ha
Then if for my love, thou my love

Those pretty wrongs that liberty c
When I am sometime absent from th
Thy beauty and thy years full well
For still temptation follows where
Gentle thou art, and therefore to

That thou hast her, it is not all
And yet it may be said I loved he
That she hath thee is of my wailin
A loss in love that touches me mor
Loving offenders, thus I will exc

When most I wink, then do mine ey
For all the day they view things u
But when I sleep, in dreams they
And darkly bright are bright in da
Then thou, whose shadow shadows do

If the dull substance of my flesh
Injurious distance should not stop
For then despite of space I would
From limits far remote, where thou
No matter then although my foot di

The other two, slight air and purg
Are both with thee, wherever I ab
The first my thought, the other my
These present-absent with swift mo
For when these quicker elements ar

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal
How to divide the conquest of thy
Mine eye my heart thy picture’s si
My heart mine eye the freedom of t
My heart doth plead that thou in h

Betwixt mine eye and heart a leagu
And each doth good turns now unto
When that mine eye is famished for
Or heart in love with sighs himsel
With my love’s picture then my eye

How careful was I, when I took my
Each trifle under truest bars to t
That to my use it might unusèd sta
From hands of falsehood, in sure w
But thou, to whom my jewels trifle

Against that time, if ever that ti
When I shall see thee frown on my
When as thy love hath cast his utm
Called to that audit by advised re
Against that time when thou shalt

How heavy do I journey on the way
When what I seek, my weary travel
Doth teach that case and that repo
“Thus far the miles are measured f
The beast that bears me, tired wit

Thus can my love excuse the slow o
Of my dull bearer, when from thee
From where thou art, why should I
Till I return, of posting is no n
O, what excuse will my poor beast

So am I as the rich whose blessèd
Can bring him to his sweet up-lock
The which he will not every hour s
For blunting the fine point of sel
Therefore are feasts so solemn and

What is your substance, whereof ar
That millions of strange shadows o
Since every one hath, every one, o
And you, but one, can every shadow
Describe Adonis, and the counterf

O, how much more doth beauty beaut
By that sweet ornament which truth
The rose looks fair, but fairer we
For that sweet odour, which doth i
The canker blooms have full as dee

Not marble, nor the gilded monumen
Of princes, shall outlive this pow
But you shall shine more bright in
Than unswept stone besmear’d with
When wasteful war shall statues ov

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it
Thy edge should blunter be than ap
Which but to—day by feeding is all
To—morrow sharpened in his former
So, love, be thou, although to—day

Being your slave, what should I d
Upon the hours and times of your d
I have no precious time* at all to
Nor services to do, till you requi
Nor dare I chide the world—withou

That god forbid, that made me firs
I should in thought control your t
Or at your hand th’ account of hou
Being your vassal bound to stay yo
O, let me suffer, being at your be

If there be nothing new, but that
Hath been before, how are our brai
Which, labouring for invention bea
The second burthen of a former chi
O, that record could with a backwa

Like as the waves make towards the
So do our minutes hasten to their
Each changing place with that whic
In sequent toil all forwards do co
Nativity, once in the main of ligh

Is it thy will thy image should ke
My heavy eyelids to the weary nigh
Dost thou desire my slumbers shoul
While shadows like to thee do mock
Is it thy spirit that thou send’st

Sin of self-love possesseth all mi
And all my soul, and all my every
And for this sin there is no remed
It is so grounded inward in my hea
Methinks no face so gracious is as

Against my love shall be, as I am
With Time’s injurious hand crushe
When hours have drained his blood
With lines and wrinkles; when his
Hath travelled on to age’s steepy

When I have seen by Time’s fell h
The rich-proud cost of outworn bur
When sometime lofty towers I see
And brass eternal slave to mortal
When I have seen the hungry ocean

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth,
But sad mortality o’er—sways their
How with this rage shall beauty ho
Whose action is no stronger than a
O, how shall summer’s honey breath

Tired with all these, for restful
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimmed in jolli
And purest faith unhappily forswor
And gilded honour shamefully mispl

Ah, wherefore with infection shoul
And with his presence grace impiet
That sin by him advantage should a
And lace it self with his society?
Why should false painting imitate

Thus is his cheek the map of days
When beauty lived and died as flow
Before these bastard signs of fair
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the d

Those parts of thee that the world
Want nothing that the thought of h
All tongues, the voice of souls, g
Utt’ring bare truth, even so as fo
Thy outward thus with outward prai

That thou art blam’d shall not be
For slander’s mark was ever yet th
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven’s swee
So thou be good, slander doth but

No longer mourn for me when I am
Than you shall hear the surly sull
Give warning to the world that I
From this vile world with vilest w
Nay if you read this line, remembe

O, lest the world should task you
What merit lived in me that you sh
After my death, dear love, forget
For you in me can nothing worthy p
Unless you would devise some virtu

That time of year thou mayst in me
When yellow leaves, or none, or fe
Upon those boughs which shake agai
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the
In me thou see’st the twilight of

But be contented when that fell ar
Without all bail shall carry me aw
My life hath in this line some int
Which for memorial still with thee
When thou reviewest this, thou dos

So are you to my thoughts as food
Or as sweet-seasoned showers are t
And for the peace of you I hold s
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth i
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon

Why is my verse so barren of new p
So far from variation or quick cha
Why with the time do I not glance
To new-found methods, and to compo
Why write I still all one, ever t

Thy glass will show thee how thy b
Thy dial how thy precious minutes
These vacant leaves thy mind’s imp
And of this book, this learning ma
The wrinkles which thy glass will

So oft have I invoked thee for my
And found such fair assistance in
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy dispers
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb o

Whilst I alone did call upon thy
My verse alone had all thy gentle
But now my gracious numbers are de
And my sick Muse doth give an oth
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely ar

O! how I faint when I of you do w
Knowing a better spirit doth use y
And in the praise thereof spends a
To make me tongue-tied speaking of
But since your worth—wide as the o

Or I shall live your epitaph to m
Or you survive when I in earth am
From hence your memory death canno
Although in me each part will be f
Your name from hence immortal life

I grant thou wert not married to m
And therefore mayst without attain
The dedicated words which writers
Of their fair subject, blessing ev
Thou art as fair in knowledge as i

I never saw that you did painting
And therefore to your fair no pain
I found, or thought I found, you
The barren tender of a poet’s debt
And therefore have I slept in you

Who is it that says most, which ca
Than this rich praise—that you alo
In whose confine immurèd is the st
Which should example where your eq
Lean penury within that pen doth d

My tongue-tied Muse in manners ho
While comments of your praise, ric
Reserve their character with golde
And precious phrase by all the Mu
I think good thoughts whilst other

Was it the proud full sail of his
Bound for the prize of all-too-pre
That did my ripe thoughts in my br
Making their tomb the womb wherein
Was it his spirit, by spirits taug

Farewell! Thou art too dear for m
And like enough thou know’st thy e
The charter of thy worth gives the
My bonds in thee are all determina
For how do I hold thee but by thy

When thou shalt be disposed to set
And place my merit in the eye of s
Upon thy side, against myself I’l
And prove thee virtuous, though th
With mine own weakness being best

Say that thou didst forsake me for
And I will comment upon that offe
Speak of my lameness, and I strai
Against thy reasons making no defe
Thou canst not, love, disgrace me

Then hate me when thou wilt; if ev
Now, while the world is bent my de
join with the spite of fortune, ma
And do not drop in for an after-lo
Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'sc

Some glory in their birth, some in
Some in their wealth, some in thei
Some in their garments, though new
Some in their hawks and hounds, so
And every humour hath his adjunct

But do thy worst to steal thyself
For term of life thou art assured
And life no longer than thy love w
For it depends upon that love of t
Then need I not to fear the worst

So shall I live, supposing thou a
Like a deceived husband; so love’s
May still seem love to me, though
Thy looks with me, thy heart in ot
For there can live no hatred in th

They that have power to hurt and w
That do not do the thing, they mos
Who, moving others, are themselves
Unmovèd, cold, and to temptation s
They rightly do inherit heaven’s g

How sweet and lovely dost thou mak
Which, like a canker in the fragra
Doth spot the beauty of thy buddin
O, in what sweets dost thou thy si
That tongue that tells the story o

Some say thy fault is youth, some
Some say thy grace is youth and ge
Both grace and faults are loved of
Thou mak’st faults graces that to
As on the finger of a thronèd quee

How like a winter hath my absence
From thee, the pleasure of the fle
What freezings have I felt, what
What old December’s bareness ever
And yet this time remov’d was summ

From you have I been absent in th
When proud pied April, dressed in
Hath put a spirit of youth in ever
That heavy Saturn laughed and lea
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the

The forward violet thus did I chi
Sweet thief, whence didst thou ste
If not from my love’s breath? The
Which on thy soft cheek for comple
In my love’s veins thou hast too g

Where art thou, Muse, that thou f
To speak of that which gives thee
Spend’st thou thy fury on some wor
Darkening thy power to lend base s
Return, forgetful Muse, and strai

O truant Muse, what shall be thy
For thy neglect of truth in beauty
Both truth and beauty on my love d
So dost thou too, and therein dign
Make answer, Muse. Wilt thou not

My love is strengthened, though mo
I love not less, though less the s
That love is merchandized, whose r
The owner's tongue doth publish ev
Our love was new, and then but in

Alack, what poverty my Muse bring
That having such a scope to show h
The argument all bare is of more w
Than when it hath my added praise
O, blame me not if I no more can

To me, fair friend, you never can
For as you were when first your ey
Such seems your beauty still. Thr
Have from the forests shook three
Three beauteous springs to yellow

Let not my love be called idolatry
Nor my belovèd as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and prais
To one, of one, still such, and ev
Kind is my love today, tomorrow ki

When in the chronicle of wasted ti
I see descriptions of the fairest
And beauty making beautiful old rh
In praise of ladies dead, and love
Then, in the blazon of sweet beaut

Not mine own fears, nor the prophe
Of the wide world dreaming on thin
Can yet the lease of my true love
Suppos’d as forfeit to a confin’d
The mortal moon hath her eclipse e

What’s in the brain that ink may c
Which hath not figured to thee my
What’s new to speak, what now to r
That may express my love, or thy d
Nothing, sweet boy, but yet, like

O, never say that I was false of
Though absence seem’d my flame to
As easy might I from myself depar
As from my soul, which in thy brea
That is my home of love: if I hav

Alas, 'tis true I have gone here
And made myself a motley to the vi
Gored mine own thoughts, sold chea
Made old offences of affections ne
Most true it is that I have look’

O, for my sake do you with Fortun
The guilty goddess of my harmful d
That did not better for my life pr
Than public means which public man
Thence comes it that my name recei

Your love and pity doth th’ impres
Which vulgar scandal stamped upon
For what care I who calls me well
So you o’ergreen my bad, my good a
You are my all the world, and I m

Since I left you, mine eye is in
And that which governs me to go ab
Doth part his function, and is par
Seems seeing, but effectually is o
For it no form delivers to the hea

Or whether doth my mind, being cro
Drink up the monarch’s plague, thi
Or whether shall I say mine eye s
And that your love taught it this
To make of monsters, and things in

Those lines that I before have wr
Even those that said I could not
Yet then my judgment knew no reaso
My most full flame should afterwar
But reckoning Time, whose million

Let me not to the marriage of true
Admit impediments. Love is not lo
Which alters when it alteration fi
Or bends with the remover to remov
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

Accuse me thus: that I have scant
Wherein I should your great deser
Forgot upon your dearest love to c
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by
That I have frequent been with un

Like as to make our appetite more
With eager compounds we our palate
As to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we
Even so being full of your ne’er-c

What potions have I drunk of Sire
Distilled from limbecks foul as he
Applying fears to hopes, and hopes
Still losing when I saw my self t
What wretched errors hath my heart

That you were once unkind befriend
And for that sorrow which I then
Needs must I under my transgressi
Unless my nerves were brass or ham
For if you were by my unkindness s

’TIS better to be vile than vile
When not to be receives reproach o
And the just pleasure lost, which
Not by our feeling, but by others’
For why should others’ false adult

Thy gift, thy tables, are within m
Full charactered with lasting memo
Which shall above that idle rank r
Beyond all date even to eternity—
Or at the least, so long as brain

No, Time, thou shalt not boast th
Thy pyramids built up with newer m
To me are nothing novel, nothing s
They are but dressings of a former
Our dates are brief, and therefore

If my dear love were but the child
It might for Fortune’s bastard be
As subject to Time’s love or to T
Weeds among weeds, or flowers with
No, it was builded far from accide

Were’t aught to me I bore the can
With my extern the outward honouri
Or laid great bases for eternity,
Which proves more short than waste
Have I not seen dwellers on form

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy
Dost hold Time’s fickle glass his
Who hast by waning grown, and ther
Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet
If Nature, sovereign mistress ove

In the old age black was not count
Or if it were, it bore not beauty’
But now is black beauty’s successi
And beauty slandered with a bastar
For since each hand hath put on N

How oft, when thou, my music, musi
Upon that blessèd wood whose motio
With thy sweet fingers when thou g
The wiry concord that mine ear con
Do I envy those jacks that nimble

The expense of spirit in a waste o
Is lust in action; and till action
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, fu
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not
Enjoy’d no sooner but despised str

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like
Coral is far more red than her lip
If snow be white, why then her bre
If hairs be wires, black wires gro
I have seen roses damasked, red an

Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou
As those whose beauties proudly ma
For well thou know’st to my dear d
Thou art the fairest and most prec
Yet, in good faith, some say that

Thine eyes I love, and they, as p
Knowing thy heart torment me with
Have put on black, and loving mour
Looking with pretty ruth upon my p
And truly not the morning sun of h

Beshrew that heart that makes my h
For that deep wound it gives my fr
Is’t not enough to torture me alon
But slave to slavery my sweet’st f
Me from my self thy cruel eye hath

So, now I have confessed that he
And I my self am mortgaged to thy
Myself I’ll forfeit, so that othe
Thou wilt restore to be my comfort
But thou wilt not, nor he will not

Whoever hath her wish, thou hast t
And Will to boot, and Will in ove
More than enough am I that vex th
To thy sweet will making addition
Wilt thou, whose will is large and

If thy soul check thee that I com
Swear to thy blind soul that I wa
And will thy soul knows is admitte
Thus far for love, my love suit, s
Will will fulfil the treasure of t

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost
That they behold and see not what
They know what beauty is, see wher
Yet what the best is, take the wor
If eyes corrupt by overpartial loo

When my love swears that she is ma
I do believe her, though I know s
That she might think me some untut
Unlearned in the world’s false sub
Thus vainly thinking that she thin

O, call not me to justify the wron
That thy unkindness lays upon my h
Wound me not with thine eye but wi
Use power with power, and slay me
Tell me thou lov’st elsewhere, but

Be wise as thou art cruel; do not
My tongue-tied patience with too m
Lest sorrow lend me words and word
The manner of my pity-wanting pain
If I might teach thee wit, better

In faith, I do not love thee with
For they in thee a thousand errors
But 'tis my heart that loves what
Who in despite of view is pleased
Nor are mine cars with thy tongue’

Love is my sin and thy dear virtue
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful
O, but with mine compare thou thin
And thou shalt find it merits not
Or, if it do, not from those lips

Lo, as a careful housewife runs to
One of her feather’d creatures bro
Sets down her babe, and makes all
In pursuit of the thing she would
Whilst her neglected child holds h

Two loves I have, of comfort and
Which like two spirits do suggest
The better angel is a man right fa
The worser spirit a woman coloured
To win me soon to hell, my female

Those lips that Love’s own hand d
Breathed forth the sound that said
To me that languished for her sake
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy co

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful
These rebel powers that thee array
Why dost thou pine within and suff
Painting thy outward walls so cost
Why so large cost, having so short

My love is as a fever, longing sti
For that which longer nurseth the
Feeding on that which doth preserv
The uncertain sickly appetite to p
My reason, the physician to my lov

O me! what eyes hath love put in m
Which have no correspondence with
Or, if they have, where is my judg
That censures falsely what they se
If that be fair whereon my false e

Canst thou, O cruel, say I love t
When I against my self with thee
Do I not think on thee when I for
Am of my self, all tyrant, for thy
Who hateth thee that I do call my

O, from what power hast thou this
With insufficiency my heart to swa
To make me give the lie to my true
And swear that brightness doth not
Whence hast thou this becoming of

Love is too young to know what con
Yet who knows not conscience is bo
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet
For, thou betraying me, I do betr

In loving thee thou know’st I am
But thou art twice forsworn to me
In act thy bed-vow broke and new f
In vowing new hate after new love
But why of two oaths’ breach do I

Cupid laid by his brand and fell a
A maid of Dian’s this advantage f
And his love-kindling fire did qui
In a cold valley-fountain of that
Which borrowed from this holy fire

The little love god lying once asl
Laid by his side his heart-inflami
Whilst many nymphs that vowed chas
Came tripping by; but in her maide
The fairest votary took up that fi