Sonnet 126

Farewell to the Fair Youth

1 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
2 Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his fickle hour;
3 Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
4 Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow'st.
5 If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
6 As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
7 She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
8 May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill.
9 Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
10 She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
11 Her audit (though delayed) answered must be,
12 And her quietus is to render thee.

Notes

TLN 1753archaic vocab
“Time's fickle glass, his fickle hour”
'Glass' means mirror. 'Fickle' means changeable, unreliable. The lovely boy holds Time's own mirror, which reflects inconstant and shifting images — a face that seems to refuse ageing — and he also holds Time's unstable hour, controlling how the hour runs for him. The repetition of 'fickle' stresses that both the mirror and the time it measures are treacherous.
TLN 1754rhetorical device
“by waning grown, and therein show'st”
'Waning' means diminishing, as the moon wanes — decreasing in visible light. The paradox is that the youth has grown (become more beautiful or more himself) by waning: as time passes and those who love him visibly age and wither, he seems to become more, not less. The poem sets his apparent increase against his admirers' visible decline.
TLN 1756archaic vocab
“Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack”
'Wrack' means ruin or destruction — the same word as 'wreck,' used broadly for decay and devastation. Nature is here personified as the supreme ruler ('sovereign mistress') even over ruin itself: she governs destruction, and therefore she alone decides when beauty decays. While she still favours the youth, she plucks him back from time's damage as he goes forward through life.
TLN 1760archaic vocab
“minion of her pleasure!”
A 'minion' is a favourite or darling — someone who enjoys the special favour of a powerful patron. The youth is Nature's beloved pet and plaything. But the word also implies dependency and powerlessness: a minion exists at the patron's pleasure, not his own, and 'she may detain, but not still keep' means Nature can hold him back from ageing for a while, but she cannot hold him forever — 'still' here means 'always' or 'permanently.'
TLN 1762wordplay
“Her audit (though delayed) answered must be,”
Both 'audit' and 'quietus' are legal and financial terms. An 'audit' is a formal examination of accounts — here Nature has kept the youth as a kind of loan, and that loan must eventually be settled ('answered'). A 'quietus' is a final discharge of debt, a receipt that closes the account entirely — by extension, death. The two words together figure Nature as a great creditor whose books must balance: the youth himself is the payment she will finally collect.
historical The Fair Youth, the Dark Lady, and the Rival Poet