Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 77

by William Shakespeare

For other versions of this work, see Sonnet 77 (Shakespeare).

Layout 2

77

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book this learning mayst thou taste. 4
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity. 8
Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nurs'd, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind. 12
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.

 

1–14 Cf. n.
4 Cf. n.
7 shady stealth: stealthy shadow
10 waste blanks: empty pages
11, 12 Cf. n.
13 offices; cf. n.