Sonnet 22
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
love
youth
aging
hearts
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me:
How can I then be elder than thou art?
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.
What It Means
Shakespeare says the mirror can't convince him he's old, because his heart lives in the young man's chest — and his youth lives there too. This mutual exchange of hearts is the central image. If the young man's heart lives in Shakespeare, then Shakespeare must stay alive to protect it. The logic is circular but emotionally satisfying: we live in each other, so neither can age or die without destroying both.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. The conceit of exchanged hearts was a common Petrarchan device, but Shakespeare charges it with unusual mutuality.
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