Sonnet 115

My prior vows of love were lies because time can change all things, even sacred devotion; I should have hedged with 'now' rather than claiming eternal constancy.

Original

Modern

1 Those lines that I before have writ do lie,

Those lines that I before have writ do lie,

2 Even those that said I could not love you dearer,

Even those that said I could not love you dearer:

3 Yet then my judgement knew no reason why,

Yet then my judgment knew no reason why,

4 My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer,

My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.

5 But reckoning time, whose millioned accidents

But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents

6 Creep in ’twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,

Creep in 'twixt vows and change decrees of kings,

7 Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp’st intents,

Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,

8 Divert strong minds to the course of alt’ring things:

Divert strong minds to the course of alter'd things;

Volta The volta shifts from past false certainty to present regret: the speaker fears time's tyranny and wishes he'd reserved judgment.

9 Alas why fearing of time’s tyranny,

'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,

10 Might I not then say ‘Now I love you best,’

When not to be receives reproach of being;

11 When I was certain o’er incertainty,

And the just pleasure lost which is so deem'd,

12 Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?

Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing:

13 Love is a babe, then might I not say so

For we all know Time is a devouring beast,

14 To give full growth to that which still doth grow.

Feed'st thou on nought else but on beauty's feast.

Time's Millioned Accidents

Shakespeare catalogs time's destructive powers: 'millioned accidents' that 'creep in 'twixt vows'; time changes 'decrees of kings'; it tans sacred beauty and blunts sharp intentions. This is time as erosive chaos, not the majestic Time of later sonnets. Every human commitment is subordinate to temporal accident. The extended meditation on time's power establishes the preoccupation that will dominate sonnets 115–126.

Love as Babe and Growth

The couplet redefines love as 'a babe' that still grows, justifying the speaker's refusal to have made eternal claims. Love is not a fixed state but a living thing in flux. This rhetorical move—claiming youth and growth as excuses—will be complicated by later sonnets that insist love must be eternal precisely because time destroys all else.

If this happened today

You once promised 'forever' to someone and meant it completely. Years later, you realize forever is impossible—not because you're flaky, but because people change, circumstances shift, and time always wins. You're acknowledging that your past certainty was naive.

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