O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are
No longer yours than you yourself here live:
Against this coming end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance to some other give.
So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination: then you were
Yourself again after yourself's decease,
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,
Which husbandry in honour might uphold
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day
And barren rage of death's eternal cold?
O, none but unthrifts! Dear my love, you know
You had a father: let your son say so.

哦，但愿你是你自己，但爱呀，你
终非你有，当你不再活在世上：
对这将临的日子你得要准备，
快交给别人你那俊秀的肖像。
这样，你所租赁的朱颜就永远
不会有满期；于是你又将变成
你自己，当你已经离开了人间，
既然你儿子保留着你的倩影。
谁肯让一座这样的华厦倾颓，
如果小心地看守便可以维护
它的光彩，去抵抗隆冬的狂吹
和那冷酷的死神无情的暴怒？
哦，除非是浪子；我爱呀，你知道
你有父亲；让你儿子也可自豪。