William Shakespeare
1564-1616
Sonnet CXXIII
No, Time,
thou shalt not boast that I do change:
Thy pyramids built
up with newer might
To me are nothing
novel, nothing strange;
They are but dressings
of a former sight.
Our dates are brief,
and therefore we admire
What thou dost foist
upon us that is old;
And rather make them
born to our desire
Than think that we
before have heard them told.
Thy registers and
thee I both defy,
Not wondering at the
present nor the past,
For thy records and
what we see doth lie,
Made more or less
by thy continual haste.
This I do vow and this shall ever be;
I will be true despite thy scythe and thee.
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