Sonnet 22

William Shakespeare (1564โ€“1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale โ€” Text

My glass shall not persuade me I am old,So long as youth and thou are of one date;But when in thee time's furrows I behold,Then look I death my days should expiate. 4For all that beauty that doth cover theeIs but the seemly raiment of my heart,Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me:How can I then be elder than thou art? 8O therefore, love, be of thyself so waryAs I, not for myself, but for thee will;Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so charyAs tender nurse her babe from faring ill. 12Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;Thou gav'st me thine, not to give back again.

4 expiate: end13 Presume not on: think not to regain