"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day？ Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines And often is his gold complexion dimmed； And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed； But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou own； Nor shall death brag thou wander in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

这首诗以夏天为背景，通过对比，赞美了爱人的美丽和永恒。诗人将爱人比作夏天，形容她既美丽又温和。夏天的风可能会摇动五月的娇嫩花朵，夏天的租期又太短，有时候阳光过于炽热，金色的面容也会变得暗淡，所有的美丽都会随着时间的推移而逐渐消逝。但诗人认为，爱人的美丽就像永恒的夏天一样，永远不会褪色，也不会失去她所拥有的美丽。即使死亡也无法夸耀你在它的阴影中徘徊，因为你的美丽将永远流传，给时间带来生命。