Sonnet Written Among the Ruins of the Castle at Heidelberg
Weep’st thou to see the ruin and decay
Which Time doth wreak upon earth’s mighty things?
Temples of gods, and palaces of kings,
Weep’st thou to see them crumbling all away?
Oh I could show thee such a woful ruin
As doth surpass the worst of Time’s undoing,
A fortress strong of life, not wrecked by years,
But overthrown by sighs, and sapped with tears;
A noble mansion, wherein youth did dwell,
To which this palace were a lowly cell;
A goodly temple, in whose holiest shrine,
Love had a worship like himself divine;
And all these fabrics fair deserted be—
A weed-grown heap, shunned even by memory.
