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Sonnet 29
Shakespeare's Sonnets Translation Sonnet 30
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste. Then can I drown an eye unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night, And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe, And moan th' expense of many a vanished sight. Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored, and sorrows end.
When in sessions of sweet silent thinking
I summon up the memory of my past,
I sigh about the lack of many things I wanted,
And I waste precious time by mourning past problems once again.
Then I drown my eyes, which are not used to crying,
For precious friends buried in death's timeless night,
And cry again for the sorrows of past love,
And complain about the loss of many vanished things.
Then I can grieve for griefs from the past,
And sadly tell the stories of each and every loss once again,
The sad account of a complaint I have already complained about,
Which I express as if I had not expressed it not before.
But in the meanwhile if I think of you, dear friend,
All these losses are restored, and sorrows end.
