李白的《将进酒》中写道：“君不见高堂明镜悲白发，朝如青丝暮成雪。”在莎翁的诗歌中，时间与爱是永恒的主题，紫罗兰老了春容，青丝遍洒白雪，美和芳菲都将逝去，唯有爱能将人的青春年华延续。
莎翁情诗第四期Sonnet 12：Love will hold the sweets and beauties
Sonnet 12
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night,
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sablecurls all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girdedup in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard;
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow,
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence,
Save breed to brave him when he takes thee hence.
译本 梁宗岱 译
当我数着壁上报时的自鸣钟，
见明媚的白昼坠入狰狞的夜，
当我凝望着紫罗兰老了春容，
青丝的卷发遍洒着皑皑白雪;
当我看见参天的树枝叶尽脱，
它不久前曾荫蔽喘息的牛羊;
夏天的青翠一束一束地就缚，
带着坚挺的白须被舁上殓床;
于是我不禁为你的朱颜焦虑：
终有天你要加入时光的废堆，
既然美和芳菲都把自己抛弃，
眼看着别人生长自己却枯萎;
没什么抵挡得住时光的毒手，
除了生育，当他来要把你拘走。
梁宗岱先生的译本文笔十分清新自然，“明媚的白昼”、“青丝的卷发遍洒着皑皑白雪”，使读者能深刻地感受到莎翁笔下美好事物逝去时的遗憾。