Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 126
126
O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st; 4
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill. 8
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be,
And her quietus is to render thee. 12
1–12 Cf. n.
2 sickle hour: hour when his sickle strikes
3 by waning grown: with age grown more beautiful
5 wrack: destruction
8 wretched minutes kill: kill time's minutes (that bring old age)
9 minion: darling
12 quietus: acquittance of the account