Sonnet 14

The Case for Posterity

  1. 1 Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
  2. 2 And yet methinks I have astronomy,
  3. 3 But not to tell of good or evil luck,
  4. 4 Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
  5. 5 Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
  6. 6 Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
  7. 7 Or say with princes if it shall go well
  8. 8 By oft predict that I in heaven find:
  9. 9 But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
  10. 10 And constant stars in them I read such art
  11. 11 As 'Truth and beauty shall together thrive,
  12. 12 If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert';
  13. 13 Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
  14. 14 'Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.'