Sonnet 30 begins with the speaker recalling the past. From experience, he knows that when he remembers the past, it will cause him sadness. Though he is not used to crying, the mere thought of the bad things that have happened to him will cause him to “weep,” “moan,” and “wail.” He laments that things he once wanted never occurred, and that friends he once cared about are now dead. Time and death have caused him much suffering. The pain of remembering these losses is so intense that remembering them is almost as bad as when they first happened. The speaker uses financial language that suggests remembering past sorrows is like paying a debt you once canceled all over again.
In the concluding couplet, however, the poem shifts. The speaker addresses a person here described only as “dear friend.” When the speaker thinks about this friend, all the things he has lost are restored to him. The thought of the friend is so strong that in the end, he stops feeling sorrow.
