William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet VI
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 thy
self to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier,
be it ten for one;
Ten times thy self
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.
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