Against That Time

Against that time, if ever that time come, When I shall see thee frown on my defects, When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum, Call’d to that audit by advis’d respects; Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass And scarcely greet me with that sun thine eye, When love, converted from the thing it was, Shall reasons find of settled gravity; Against that time do I ensconce me here Within the knowledge of mine own desert, And this my hand against myself uprear, To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:    To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,    Since, why to love, I can allege no cause.

A poem – penned by none other than Shakespeare posted on 27 Feb,, 2020, but copied down on scrap paper decades ago and filed away among papers.

How much better to appreciate it after being married many years to an excellent and holy wife. Still with me after all these years. Must have been those blessed children that kept her around.