Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 12

by William Shakespeare

For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 12 (Shakespeare).

Layout 2

12

When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silver'd o'er with white; 4
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, 8
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow; 12
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

 

2 brave: beautiful
6 erst: formerly
9 question make: meditate