Sonnet 16

1 But wherefore do not you a mightier way
2 Make war upon this bloody tyrant Time?
3 And fortify yourself in your decay
4 With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
5 Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
6 And many maiden gardens yet unset,
7 With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers,
8 Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
9 So should the lines of life that life repair
10 Which this (Time’s pencil) or my pupil pen
11 Neither in inward worth nor outward fair
12 Can make you live yourself in eyes of men.
13 To give away yourself, keeps yourself still,
14 And you must live drawn by your own sweet skill.