William Shakespeare · Shakespeare's Sonnets

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”

Love & longing
That time of year thou mayst in me beholdWhen yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hangUpon those boughs which shake against the cold,Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.In me thou see’st the twilight of such dayAs after sunset fadeth in the west;Which by and by black night doth take away,Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
William ShakespeareShakespeare's Sonnets, 1609 · Sonnet LXXIII
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Author
William Shakespeare
Work
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Year
1609
Chapter / part
Sonnet LXXIII
Length
121 words
Source
Project Gutenberg eBook #1041

Public domain. This passage is in the public domain. William Shakespeare died in 1616, more than 70 years ago, and the work was first published in 1609. You can copy, print, read aloud or sell it without asking permission; a credit is kind but not required. The text is copied word for word from the Project Gutenberg edition linked here.

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