Classic Poem

Let others sing of knights and paladins
In agëd accents and untimely words,
Paint shadows, in imaginary lines,
Which well the reach of their high wits records:
But I must sing of thee, and those fair eyes
Authentic shall my verse in time to come,
When yet the unborn shall say, "Lo, where she lies,
Whose beauty made him speak that else was dumb.'

These are the arks, the trophies, I erect,
That fortify thy name against old age;
And these thy sacred virtues must protect
Against the dark and Time's consuming rage.
Though the error of my youth in them appear,
Suffice they show I lived, and loved thee dear.