Shakespearean Variation: Sonnet 22
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
no matter that my youth is out of date.
My sins are reasons that my eyes behold
a seeming age, that I might expiate,
and know that I must each day give to thee
a contrite, ardent, and devoted heart;
already thou hast given such to me
and to return requires skill and art.
Of weary years we are so wary,
when they are but remembrance to our will
to be not so reluctant or chary
in seeking good or casting off the ill.
-- We treasure more the thing that must be slain,
as youth must be, that youth may live again.
