Shakespeare's Sonnet 101

O truant Muse what shall be thy amendsFor thy neglect of truth in beauty dy’d?Both truth and beauty on my love depends;So dost thou too, and therein dignified.Make answer Muse: wilt thou not haply say,‘Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix’d;Beauty no pencil, beauty’s truth to lay;But best is best, if never intermix’d’?Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb?Excuse not silence so, for’t lies in theeTo make him much outlive a gilded tombAnd to be prais’d of ages yet to be.Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee howTo make him seem long hence as he shows now.

Absent Muse, how will you make up for neglecting faithfulness clothed in beauty? Both faithfulness and beauty depend on my love, and so do you; that dependence gives you honor.
Answer me, Muse. Perhaps you will say, “Faithfulness needs no added color, since its own color is permanent. Beauty needs no brush to show its true appearance. What is best stays best if nothing is mixed into it.”
Will you stay silent because he needs no praise? Do not use that excuse for silence, because you have the power to make him outlive a gilded tomb by many years and be praised by generations still to come.
Then do your work, Muse. I will teach you how to make him seem, long from now, just as he appears today.