| SINCE brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea | |
| But sad mortality o’ersways their power, | |
| How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, | |
| Whose action is no stronger than a flower? | |
| O! how shall summer’s honey breath hold out | 5 |
| Against the wrackful siege of battering days, | |
| When rocks impregnable are not so stout, | |
| Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays? | |
| O fearful meditation! where, alack, | |
| Shall Time’s best jewel from Time’s chest lie hid? | 10 |
| Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back? | |
| Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid? | |
| O! none, unless this miracle have might, | |
| That in black ink my love may still shine bright. |