Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 106
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 106 (Shakespeare).
106
When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rime,
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights, 4
Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I see their antique pen would have express'd
Even such a beauty as you master now. 8
So all their praises are but prophecies
Of this our time, all you prefiguring;
And, for they look'd but with divining eyes,
They had not skill enough your worth to sing: 12
For we, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.
5 blazon: proclaiming
8 master: possess
11 divining: prophesying