Sonnet III:

That glass, one face doth from another, shield,
When mirrored, grace thy fair and barren bloom.
To form another, thou wouldst not be healed;
So blest, wouldst thou thy mother’s youth resume?

No fairer she, should thou thy youth regain;
Nor he, by his posterity revealed.
Thou must not still thy husbandry disdain;
But fury-chafe, and till thy blighted field.

Doth Winter’s harvest care to April’s thresh;
Or dare the rite to golden Spring regain?
Cares now Thy Prime for Legacy as Flesh;
When thou art loved and fond in love remain?

So choose: Thy tomb, in single fray enmesh;
Or Heaven’s womb, thine image pray make fresh.

• David Emeron
  To: myself

This sonnet is part of a short, or
possibly at some point, very long
sequence; click here to read it all: