1 Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest,
Look in your mirror and speak about the face you see, Go look in the mirror—describe what you see looking back. look at yourself in the mirror
2 Now is the time that face should form another,
Now is the moment that face should create another, That face—right now—should be making another beautiful face exist. make another beautiful face
3 Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
If you don't now renew that beauty in fresh form, If you don't keep that beauty alive by passing it on, keep that beauty going
4 Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
You deceive the world and rob some woman of motherhood. You're stealing from the world—depriving some woman of your child. you're stealing from women
5 For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
For what beautiful woman exists whose womb wouldn't welcome What woman beautiful enough wouldn't want what woman wouldn't want uneared: unplowed, untilled; husbandry: cultivation
6 Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
The cultivation of your beauty and seed? Your beauty and seed to create an heir? your kid inside them
7 Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Or who is so foolish as to be the grave Or what man is so stupid he'd bury what man's dumb enough to kill
8 Of his self-love to stop posterity?
Of his own self-love, ending the future? His own line, just to be self-absorbed? his own legacy out of selfishness
9 Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee
You are your mother's mirror and she sees herself in you, You're your mother's reflection—she looks at you and sees her own youth. you're your mother's reflection
10 Calls back the lovely April of her prime,
Recalling the lovely spring of her beautiful days, Remembering when she was young and gorgeous like you. she sees her own youth in you
11 So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
So you through the windows of your children will see, And through your kids you'll look back and see your kids will show you
12 Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
Despite age's wrinkles, this golden moment of yours preserved. Your beautiful youth preserved, even when wrinkles come. your beauty stays forever
Volta Shifts from describing what you could do to warning the consequences: if you die childless, your image dies forever.
13 But if thou live remembered not to be,
But if you live and are not remembered, But if you live without being remembered, if nobody remembers you
14 Die single and thine image dies with thee.
Die alone and your image dies with you. Die alone and your beauty vanishes from the world forever. you disappear completely