Devouring Time, go ahead and blunt the lion’s paws. Make the earth swallow up her own creatures. Pluck the sharp teeth out of the fierce tiger’s jaws, and burn the long-lived phoenix in its own blood. Make happy and sad times as you fly by, and do whatever you want, swift-footed Time, to the wide world and all its vanishing delights. But I forbid you to commit one heinous crime. Oh, don’t carve wrinkles into my love’s beautiful forehead, and don’t draw lines there with your old pen. Let him pass through time untainted, to serve as the model of beauty for men to come. But do your worst, old Time. Despite your wrongs, my love will stay young forever in my poetry.