Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful
rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these
contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with
sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues
overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire
shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall
still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending
doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself
arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's
eyes.
View all
Shakespeare's Sonnets:
