Sher Poetry

Voicing and Sharing Poems from a Wide Range of Voices.


“Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare read by Vivienne Popperl

Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire,

Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.


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6 responses to ““Sonnet 73” by William Shakespeare read by Vivienne Popperl”

  1. I’ve been contemplating the last days on Earth recently. How like birth we often labor through the dying process. There is a sweetness in this poem… a tender reflection on the transitions that occur in Nature. We are a part of this natural world. We too age, whither, and expire. We leave the physical realm and shift states. Do we really love more strongly when life concludes?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you for sharing your beautiful response to “Sonnet 73.”

      And, I would say perhaps at the end of life some love more strongly, because they realize or see in life something more precious than what they realized when they were younger. Thanks for listening and for commenting.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. being in the ‘november’ of my years, i find this gloriously appropriate. being a widow and contemplating life and its finality, there is nothing more that i want, than to love with my whole being. concentrated, pressed down, pure and self sacrificing love- to die to oneself is to live in complete freedom to love. and to enjoy the beauty from ashes.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “to die to unsold is to live in complete freedom to love, and to enjoy the beauty from the ashes” This is such an authentic and heartfelt aspiration, and in my greatest lessening, I would follow you. Thank you for listening and for commenting.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. A listener from Idaho:

    An ex-tra-ord-in-a-ry sonnet! Beautifully read! I love it!

    Like

  4. Yes, I agree, and thank you so much for letting us know and for listening to Sher Poetry.

    Liked by 1 person

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