Shakespeare's Sonnet 55

Not marble, nor the gilded monumentsOf princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;But you shall shine more bright in these contentsThan unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.When wasteful war shall statues overturn,And broils root out the work of masonry,Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burnThe living record of your memory.’Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmityShall you pace forth; your praise shall still find roomEven in the eyes of all posterityThat wear this world out to the ending doom.So, till the judgement that yourself arise,You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

Neither marble nor the gold-covered monuments of princes will outlast this powerful poem. You will shine more brightly in these words than neglected stone smeared with the grime of careless time. When destructive war topples statues and fighting tears down stone buildings, neither Mars’s sword nor war’s fierce fire will destroy this living record of your memory. You will move forward against death and the hostility that wipes out all remembrance. Your praise will still find a place in the eyes of every future generation that lives in this world until the final judgment. So until that judgment, when you yourself rise again, you will live in this poem and in the eyes of lovers.