Time poems
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Shakespeare's Sonnets: From fairest creatures we desire increase
© William Shakespeare
From fairest creatures we desire increaseThat thereby beauty's rose might never die,But as the riper should by time decease,His tender heir might bear his memory:But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,Making a famine where abundance lies,Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,And only herald to the gaudy spring,Within thine own bud buriest thy content,And tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding: Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Devouring time, blunt thou the lion's paws
© William Shakespeare
Devouring time, blunt thou the lion's pawsAnd make the earth devour her own sweet brood,Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jawsAnd burn the long-liv'd phoenix in her blood,Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,And do what e'er thou wilt, swift-footed time,To the wide world and all her fading sweets:But I forbid thee one most heinous crime,O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen,Him in thy course untainted do allowFor beauty's pattern to succeeding men
Shakespeare's Sonnets: But wherefore do not you a mightier way
© William Shakespeare
But wherefore do not you a mightier wayMake war upon this bloody tyrant timeAnd fortify your self in your decayWith means more blessèd than my barren rhyme?Now stand you on the top of happy hours,And many maiden gardens yet unset,With virtuous wish would bear your living flow'rs,Much liker than your painted counterfeit:So should the lines of life that life repairWhich this (time's pencil or my pupil pen)Neither in inward worth nor outward fairCan make you live your self in eyes of men; To give away your self keeps your self still, And you must live drawn by your own sweet skill
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took
© William Shakespeare
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,And each doth good turns now unto the other
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Being your slave, what should I do but tend
© William Shakespeare
Being your slave, what should I do but tendUpon the hours and times of your desire?I have no precious time at all to spend,Nor services to do till you require
Shakespeare's Sonnets: As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
© William Shakespeare
As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'stIn one of thine, from that which thou depart'st,And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'stThou may'st call thine, when thou from youth convert'st;Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase,Without this, folly, age, and cold decay;If all were minded so, the times should cease,And threescore year would make the world away:Let those whom nature hath not made for store,Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish;Look whom she best endow'd, she gave the more,Which bount'ous gift thou should'st in bounty cherish
Shakespeare's Sonnets: As a decrepit father takes delight
© William Shakespeare
As a decrepit father takes delightTo see his active child do deeds of youthSo I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite,Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Against that time (if ever that time come)
© William Shakespeare
Against that time (if ever that time come)When I shall see thee frown on my defects,When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,Call'd to that audit by advis'd respects,Against that time when thou shalt strangely passAnd scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye,When love converted from the thing it wasShall reasons find of settled gravity;Against that time do I ensconce me hereWithin the knowledge of mine own desert,And this my hand against my self uprearTo guard the lawful reasons on thy part; To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws, Since why to love I can allege no cause
Romeo and Juliet (excerpts): O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you
© William Shakespeare
O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you
Richard II (excerpts): I have been studying how to compare
© William Shakespeare
I have been studying how to compareThis prison where I live unto the world,And for because the world is populousAnd here is not a creature but myself,I cannot do it - yet I'll hammer it out
The Merchant of Venice (excerpts): How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank
© William Shakespeare
Lorenzo: How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank; Here will we sit and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears
Macbeth (excerpts): Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
© William Shakespeare
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowCreeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death
Hamlet (excerpts): To be or not to be, that is the question
© William Shakespeare
To be or not to be, that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troublesAnd by opposing end them
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Against my love shall be as I am now
© William Shakespeare
Against my love shall be as I am nowWith time's injurious hand crush't and o'er-worn,When hours have drain'd his blood and fill'd his browWith lines and wrinkles, when his youthful mornHath travail'd on to age's steepy night,And all those beauties whereof now he's kingAre vanishing, or vanish't out of sight,Stealing away the treasure of his spring
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Accuse me thus, that I have scanted all
© William Shakespeare
Accuse me thus, that I have scanted allWherein I should your great deserts repay,Forgot upon your dearest love to callWhereto all bonds do tie me day by day,That I have frequent been with unknown mindsAnd giv'n to time your own dear purchas'd right,That I have hoisted sail to all the windsWhich should transport me farthest from your sight
Song: Love still has something of the sea
© Sir Charles Sedley
Love still has something of the sea, From whence his Mother rose;No time his slaves from doubt can free, Nor give their thoughts repose.
To Julia in Shooting Togs
© Seaman Owen
Whenas to shoot my Julia goes,Then, then, (methinks) how bravely showsThat rare arrangement of her clothes!
A Song of Renunciation
© Seaman Owen
In the days of my season of salad, When the down was as dew on my cheek,And for French I was bred on the ballad, For Greek on the writers of Greek,--Then I sang of the rose that is ruddy, Of "pleasure that winces and stings,"Of white women and wine that is bloody, And similar things
A New Profession
© Seaman Owen
My hopeless boy! when I compare (Claiming a father's right to do so)Your hollow brain, your vacuous air,With all the time, and wealth and care Lavished upon your mental trousseau;
