Edmund Spencer

One day I wrote her name upon the strand, (A)
But came the waves and washed it away: (B)
Again I write it with a second hand, (A)
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.(B)

Edmund Spencer begins his poem with a vain attempt to keep his name and his lover's name in the sand. Yet, the waves come and go and continually erase the names. This was not the way for Spencer to gain the immortal love he yerned for.
Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay, (B)
A mortal thing so to immortalize, (C)
For I myself shall like to this decay,(B)
And eek my name be wiped out likewise.(C)

Spencer tried and defeat time by immortalize his love. He does this by writing in the sand. However, nobody can out live time. Everyone must leave the mortal world for the mystery of what comes next.

Not so, (quod I) let baser things devise (C)
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: (D)
My verse, your virtues rare shall eternize, (C)
And in the heavens write your glorious name. (D)

Even if the body may not be eternal, words can live on. Spencer wrote this sonnet for his love in attempt to make their love everlasting.
Where when as death shall all the world subdue, (E)
Our love shall live, and later life renew. (E)

Words out live people. This poem was a way for Spencer to keep his love know a alive for centuries.