Когда ты дни мои переживешь,
А смерть покроет прахом мои кости,
Велением судьбы ты вдруг прочтешь
твоей любви сии простые строчки.
И сравнивая стих с грядущим днем,
хотя обгонит лучшее нас время,
Не ради рифм, а чувств храни его,
превыше чем счастливейших поэмы.
Меня любовной мысли удостой:
"Что если б Муза с днями возрастала,
то в лучшем одеянии из строф
любовь б его творенья порождала.
Он умер, и поэты лучше пишут.
Их стиль ценю, но он - любовью дышит".
SONNET 32
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died, and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'
NOTES
XXXII. In accordance with the view of Furnivall and Dowden, this Sonnet is probably the Envoy to the series xxvii-xxxii. As the poet has survived many of his former friends (cf. two preceding Sonnets), so Mr. W. H. may survive the poet. And in time to come there may be a general improvement of poetical style. But this improved style will not express a greater intensity of affection. [Please click here for more].
1. My well-contented day. If this expression implies satisfaction with the world, then there is a marked difference of feeling between this Sonnet and others following, e.g. lxvi. The expression "well-contented" may, however, be understood possibly as implying that the poet would, whenever the summons to depart may come, desire no further prolongation of a life which was not to be coveted. But, in the case of poems like these Sonnets, there need be little difficulty in admitting a variation in the feeling expressed.
2. That churl Death. Cf. Hamlet, Act v. sc. 2, lines 347, 348.
This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest.
3. "And if perchance thou shalt again look over."
4. Lover. An expression not unsuitable between men according to the fashion of the time.
7. Reserve them. Still keep them.
8. Happier men. Poets more successful in thought or expression.
11. A dearer birth. A more valuable poetical product.
12. To march, &c. To keep pace with the time in the outward garb and adornment of literary style.