William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet XXII
My glass shall
not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and
thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's
furrows I behold,
Then look I death
my days should expiate.
For all that beauty
that doth cover thee,
Is but the seemly
raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breast
doth live, as thine in me:
How can I then be
elder than thou art?
O! therefore love,
be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself,
but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart,
which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her
babe from faring ill.
Presume not on th;heart when mine is slain,
Thou gav'st me thine not to give back again.
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