Shakespeare's Sonnets: My glass shall not persuade me I am old

Sonnet 22

Original Text

SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): c1v.

2So long as youth and thou are of one date,

3But when in thee time's furrows I behold,

5For all that beauty that doth cover thee

6Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,

7Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me.

8How can I then be elder than thou art?

9O therefore love be of thy self so wary

10As I, not for my self but for thee, will,

12As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.

14 Thou gav'st me thine not to give back again.

1] glass] mirror. Back to Line

4] my days should expiate] end my days (OED, "expiate," v., 7). Back to Line

11] chary] preciously. Back to Line

13] Presume not on] Don't expect the return of. Back to Line

Publication Start Year

1609

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2008

Rhyme

Form