The Sonnets

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,

But sad mortality oʼersways their power,

How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,

Whose action is no stronger than a flower?

O! how shall summerʼs honey breath hold out,

Against the wrackful siege of battering days,

When rocks impregnable are not so stout,

Nor gates of steel so strong but Time decays?

O fearful meditation! where, alack,

Shall Timeʼs best jewel from Timeʼs chest lie hid?

Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?

Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?

O! none, unless this miracle have might,

That in black ink my love may still shine bright.