William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet CXV
Those lines
that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said
I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment
knew no reason why
My most full flame
should afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning Time,
whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows,
and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty,
blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds
to the course of altering things;
Alas! why fearing
of Time's tyranny,
Might I not then say,
'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain
o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present,
doubting of the rest?
Love is a babe, then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow?
|