初读时都以为这是一首情诗，不过其实是莎翁献给自己的好友——一位英俊青年的。一开始就把友人比作夏日，比得通俗自然而不落俗套，继而又进一步指出友人的青春、美貌更胜一筹，借诗人神笔，足以与时间抗衡，与天地共存。
Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
能否把你比作夏日璀璨？
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
你却比炎夏更可爱温存。
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
狂风摧残五月花蕊娇妍，
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
夏天匆匆离去毫不停顿。
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
苍天明眸有时过于灼热，
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
金色脸容往往蒙上阴翳；
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
一切优美形象不免褪色，
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd.
偶然摧折或自然地老去。
But thy eternal summer shall not fade ,
而你如仲夏繁茂不凋谢，
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
秀雅风姿将永远翩翩；
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
死神无法逼你气息奄奄，
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
你将永生于不朽诗篇。
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
只要人能呼吸眼不盲，
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
这诗和你将千秋流芳。
--By William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
