Open Source Shakespeare

Sonnets

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Act I, Scene 73

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  • Shakespeare. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
    When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang 1010
    Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
    Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
    In me thou seest the twilight of such day
    As after sunset fadeth in the west,
    Which by and by black night doth take away, 1015
    Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
    In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
    That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
    As the death-bed whereon it must expire
    Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. 1020
    This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
    To love that well which thou must leave ere long.