Sonnet 54

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seemBy that sweet ornament which truth doth give!The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deemFor that sweet odour which doth in it live. 4The canker-blooms have full as deep a dyeAs the perfumed tincture of the roses,Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonlyWhen summer's breath their masked buds discloses: 8But, for their virtue only is their show,They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made: 12And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,When that shall vade, my verse distils your truth.

5 canker-blooms: dog-roses, scentless wild roses6 tincture: color8 discloses: unfolds, opens9 only is their show: consists only in their appearance10 unrespected: unregarded11 to themselves: all alone14 that: that beauty, that youthvade: fadedistils: preserves the essence of