| Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875. |
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| W. Shakespeare |
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| XLVIII. Post Mortem |
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| IF thou survive my well-contented day | |
| When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover, | |
| And shalt by fortune once more re-survey | |
| These poor rude lines of thy deceasèd lover, | |
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| Compare them with the bettering of the time; | 5 |
| And though they be outstripp'd by every pen, | |
| Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme | |
| Exceeded by the height of happier men. | |
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| O then vouchsafe me but this loving thought— | |
| "Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age, | 10 |
| A dearer birth than this his love had brought, | |
| To march in ranks of better equipage: | |
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| But since he died, and poets better prove, | |
| Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love." | |
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