Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 16
16
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify yourself in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rime? 4
Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens, yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers
Much liker than your painted counterfeit: 8
So should the lines of life that life repair,
Which this Time's pencil, or my pupil pen,
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair,
Can make you live yourself in eyes of men. 12
To give away yourself, keeps yourself still;
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.
6 unset: not planted
8 painted counterfeit: portrait
9 lines of life: children
10 Which this . . . pupil pen; cf. n.
11 fair: beauty
13 To give away yourself: to beget children