One day I wrote her name upon the strand, | a | ||||
But came the waves and washed it away: | b | ||||
Again I wrote it with a second hand, | a | ||||
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. | b | ||||
5 |
Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay | b | |||
A mortal thing so to immortalize! | c | ||||
For I myself shall like to this decay, | b | ||||
And eek my name be wiped out likewise. | c | ||||
Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise | c | ||||
10 |
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: | d | |||
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, | c | ||||
And in the heavens write your glorious name; | d | ||||
Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue, | e | ||||
Our love shall live, and later life renew. | e | ||||
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