About Time

Sonnet 60
William Shakespeare

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

Nativity, once in the main of light,

Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,

Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,

And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth

And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

Some thoughts came to me during yesterday morning's prayer time: "Another week has already reached the halfway point; another month is now ending; another year is almost at its end. It seems to have just started." Time is passing, so quickly now. It's as if Time is on a journey, and it's swiftly traveling through my life. I thought about the days when I'd go horseback riding and how the horse always would speed up when he neared home. So it is with Time on its journey, it seems. And so it is with us all, to some measure. Hope that doesn't sound gloomy; I don't mean it to.

Then I needed to grade this sonnet that my daughter had to memorize as her latest poetry selection in her English class. And it seems to mirror so many of the thoughts which I had about Time. I knew little Shakespeare in my younger years, so I can't say I understand his writings very well. I remember doing a paper once on Othello and understanding that okay, but little else. At my high school, I got little encouragement to appreciate literature; it's only now in my later years that I'm enjoying it more.

At any rate, I wish you would read this beautiful little sonnet and tell me if you see it as a hopeful one. I do. It seems that Time is the cruel one. But it seems to me that "Praising thy worth" could refer to God, who reigns over Time. Any Shakespearian scholars out there that can tell me if that's a legitimate assessment? Do any of you see it as I'm seeing it, or have something different to offer?

All I know for sure is that whether Shakespeare was trying to say it or not, eventually Time will bring death, but death has been swallowed up in victory by and through our Lord Jesus.