Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end; Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend. Nativity, once in the main of light, 5 Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth And delves the parallels in beauty's brow, Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet to times in hope, my verse shall stand Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.
Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, taken together, are frequently described as a sequence; divided into 2 sections
Sonnets 1-126 focus on a young man and the speaker's friendship with him
Sonnets 127-52 focus on the speaker's relationship with a woman. The two concluding sonnets, 153 and 154, are free translations or adaptations of classical verses about Cupid