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