Sonnet 77
Devouring Time
- 1 Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
- 2 Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
- 3 These vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
- 4 And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste.
- 5 The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
- 6 Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
- 7 Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
- 8 Time's thievish progress to eternity.
- 9 Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
- 10 Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
- 11 Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
- 12 To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
- 13 These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
- 14 Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.