Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 6
For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 6 (Shakespeare).
6
Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd. 4
That use is not forbidden usury,
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That's for thyself to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one; 8
Ten times thyself were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigur'd thee;
Then what could death do, if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity? 12
Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.
1 ragged: rugged
3 treasure: enrich
5 use: interest
6 happies: makes happy
10 refigur'd: reproduced in appearance