- No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:
- Thy pyramids built up with newer might
- To me are nothing novel, nothing strange;
- They are but dressings of a former sight.
- Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire
- What thou dost foist upon us that is old;
- And rather make them born to our desire
- Than think that we before have heard them told.
- Thy registers and thee I both defy,
- Not wondering at the present nor the past,
- For thy records and what we see doth lie,
- Made more or less by thy continual haste.
- This I do vow and this shall ever be;
- I will be true despite thy scythe and thee.