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Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
These vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste.
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 77 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXXVII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 77, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
Ti mostrerà lo specchio come bellezza si perde,
la meridiana come si consuma il più prezioso tempo;
Su fogli vuoti lascia allora l'impronta della tua mente,
e, per mezzo del libro, potrai assaporare questo insegnamento.
Le rughe che lo specchio ti mostrerà vere
hanno sapore di tombe in attesa come bocche aperte
Il trascorrere d’ombre sulla sulla meridiana ti potrà insegnare
come il tempo tempo verso l’eternità furtivamente procede.
Rifletti! Ciò che la tua memoria non può conservare,
Affidalo a questi vuoti fogli, che saranno la sede
di pensieri simili a figli nutriti e allevati dal tuo cervello,
per fare più ricco ciò che la mente tua già possiede.
Questo compito, ogni volta che lo vorrai osservare,
ti gioverà e renderà il tuo libro migliore.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2025 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 77
This text was added to the website: 2025-07-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 125