In “Like the Waves,” time was the main theme and its purpose was to communicate how time affects age. Time is personified and Shakespeare treated it as something inevitable. He describes time as someone who “mows” with “his scythe” and makes a woman appear older as youth passes. Time “searches in the parallels of the furrow of beauty” means that the wrinkles on a face show someone who is aging. It is a truth that people age and time passes and is inevitable. You can't stop time and stay young with youth forever. However, in the couplets where time and its “cruel hand” are described, Shakespeare’s love does not change despite the years we see. As someone's life "fails" in the sonnet "Shall I Compare Thee", the lover tells his beloved "Thy eternal summer shall not fade" (line 9), meaning that he will think of his beautiful and young lover forever, showing us the devotion of his love. Beauty and youth between lovers transcend the passage of time and this is how people can love each other