Sonnet 106
Constancy and the Muse
- 1 When in the chronicle of wasted time
- 2 I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
- 3 And beauty making beautiful old rime,
- 4 In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
- 5 Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,
- 6 Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
- 7 I see their antique pen would have express'd
- 8 Even such a beauty as you master now.
- 9 So all their praises are but prophecies
- 10 Of this our time, all you prefiguring;
- 11 And for they looked but with divining eyes,
- 12 They had not skill enough your worth to sing:
- 13 For we, which now behold these present days,
- 14 Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.