Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
我能否將妳比作夏天？
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
妳比夏天更美麗溫婉。
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
狂風將五月的蓓蕾雕殘，
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
夏日的勾留何其短暫。
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
休戀那麗日當空，
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
轉眼會雲霧迷蒙。
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
休嘆那百花飄零，
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd
催折於無常的天命。
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
唯有妳永恒的夏日常新，
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
妳的美貌亦毫發無損。
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
死神也無緣將妳幽禁，
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
妳在我永恒的詩中長存。
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
只要世間尚有人吟誦我的詩篇，
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
這詩就將不朽，永葆妳的芳顏。
這首詩以夏天的意向展開了想象，夏天總是充滿活力與生機，就像詩人的友人正處於年輕的時期壹樣。“妳”作為美的存在，魅力遠勝於夏天；雖然每壹種美都會轉瞬即逝，但“妳"的美將永駐。