My glass shall not persuade me I am old, So long as youth and thou are of one date; But when in thee time's furrows I behold, Then look I death my days should expiate. For all that beauty that doth cover thee Is but the seemly raiment of my heart, Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me: How can I then be elder than thou art? O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary As I, not for myself, but for thee will; Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary As tender nurse her babe from faring ill. Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain; Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOHENLINDEN by THOMAS CAMPBELL CHAMPAGNE, 1914-1915 by ALAN SEEGER MY CREED by HOWARD ARNOLD WALTER THE VOICE OF THE SEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A WINTRY LULLABY by LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA ON THE BIRTH OF A FRIEND'S ELDEST SON by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |