One day I wrote her name upon the strand, But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide and made my pains his prey. "Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain essay A mortal thing so to immortalize; For I myself shall like to this decay, And eke my name be wiped out likewise." "Not so," quoth I; "let baser things devise To lie in dust, but you shall live by fame; My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write you glorious name: Where, whenas Death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew."