Her Name

One day I wrote her name upon the sand
But came the waves ad 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 doth in vain assay
a mortal thing so to immortalize,
for I myself shall like to this decay,
and also my name be wiped out likewise.''
''Not so,'' said I, ''let baser things devise.
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame;
My verse your virtues rare shall eternalize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where when as death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.