Read The Sonnets and Other Poems Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
The Sonnets and Other Poems (21 page)
If the
dull
1
substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious
2
distance should not stop my way,
For then
despite
3
of space I would be brought,
From
limits
4
far remote,
where
thou dost stay.
No matter
5
then, although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth removed from thee,
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land
As soon as think the place where he would be.
But ah, thought kills me that I am not thought,
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that
so much of earth and water wrought
11
,
I must
attend time’s leisure
12
with my moan,
Receiving naught by elements so slow
But
heavy
14
tears,
badges of either’s woe
.
The other
two
1
,
slight
air and
purging
fire,
Are both with thee, wherever I abide:
The first
3
my thought,
the other
my desire,
These
present-absent
4
with swift motion slide.
For when these
quicker
5
elements are gone
In tender embassy
6
of love to thee,
My life, being made of four, with
two alone
7
Sinks down to death, oppressed with melancholy
8
,
Until
life’s composition be recured
9
By those swift messengers returned from thee,
Who
even but now
11
come back again, assured
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me.
This told, I
joy
13
— but then no longer glad,
I send them back again and
straight
14
grow sad.
Mine eye and heart are at a
mortal
1
war
How to divide the
conquest of thy sight
2
:
Mine eye my heart thy picture’s sight would bar
3
,
My heart mine eye the
freedom of that right
4
.
My heart doth
plead
5
that thou in him dost lie —
A
closet
6
never pierced with crystal eyes —
But the
defendant
7
doth that plea deny
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To
’cide
9
this
title
is
empanellèd
A
quest
10
of thoughts, all
tenants
to the heart,
And by their verdict is
determinèd
11
The clear eye’s
moiety
12
and the dear heart’s part,
As thus
13
: mine eye’s due is thy
outward part
,
And my heart’s right thy inward love of heart.
Betwixt mine eye and heart a
league
1
is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that
3
mine eye is famished for a look,
Or heart
4
in love with sighs
himself
doth smother,
With
5
my love’s picture then my eye doth feast
And to the painted banquet
bids
6
my heart.
Another time mine eye is my heart’s guest
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part.
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thyself away are present still with me,
For thou not further than my thoughts canst move,
And I am
still
12
with them and they with thee.
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart to heart’s and eye’s delight.
How careful was I, when I
took my way
1
,
Each trifle
under truest bars
2
to thrust,
That
to my use
3
it might unusèd stay
From hands of falsehood
4
, in
sure
wards
of trust.
But thou,
to whom
5
my jewels trifles are,
Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief,
Thou, best of dearest and mine only
care
7
,
Art left the prey of every
vulgar
8
thief.
Thee have I not locked up in any chest,
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle
closure
11
of my breast,
From whence
at pleasure
12
thou mayst come and part:
And even thence thou wilt be stol’n, I fear,
For
truth
14
proves thievish for a prize so
dear
.
Against
1
that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
When as
3
thy love hath
cast his utmost sum
,
Called to that audit by
advised respects
4
—
Against that time when thou shalt
strangely
5
pass
And scarcely greet me with that sun thine eye,
When love,
converted
7
from the thing it was,
Shall
reasons find of settled gravity
8
—
Against that time do I
ensconce me
9
here
Within the knowledge of
mine own desert
10
,
And
this my hand against myself uprear
11
To
guard
12
the lawful reasons on thy part:
To leave poor me thou hast the
strength of laws
13
,
Since
why to love I can allege no
14
cause
.
How
heavy
1
do I journey on the way,
When
what I seek, my weary travel’s end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,
‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend
2
.’
The
beast
5
that bears me, tirèd with my woe,
Plods
dully
6
on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the
wretch
7
did know
His rider loved not speed,
being made
8
from thee:
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide,
Which
heavily
11
he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side,
For that same groan doth put this in my mind:
My grief lies onward and my joy behind.
Thus can my love excuse the
slow offence
1
Of my
dull bearer
2
when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me thence?
Till I return, of
posting
4
is no need.
O, what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When
swift extremity
6
can seem but slow?
Then should I
spur
7
, though mounted on the wind:
In wingèd speed no motion shall I know
8
.
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace:
Therefore desire, of
perfects
10
love being made,
Shall neigh —
no dull flesh
11
— in his fiery race,
But love,
for love
12
, thus shall excuse my
jade
,
Since from thee going he went wilful-slow,
Towards thee I’ll run and give him leave to
go
14
.
So am I as the rich
1
, whose blessèd key
Can bring him to his sweet up-lockèd treasure,
The which he will not ev’ry hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of
seldom
4
pleasure.
Therefore are
feasts
5
so
solemn
and so
rare
,
Since, seldom coming, in the long year set
Like stones of worth they
thinly placèd
7
are,
Or
captain
8
jewels in the
carcanet
.
So is the time that keeps you
as
9
my
chest
,
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,
To make some
special
instant
11
special blest
By new unfolding his
imprisoned pride
12
.
Blessèd are you, whose worthiness gives scope,
Being had, to triumph, being lacked, to hope
14
.
What is your substance,
whereof
1
are you made,
That millions of
strange
2
shadows
on you tend
?
Since every one hath, every one, one
shade
3
,
And you, but one, can
every shadow lend
4
.
Describe
Adonis
5
, and the
counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you.
On
7
Helen
’s cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new.
Speak of the spring and
foison
9
of the year:
The one doth shadow of your beauty show
10
,
The other as your
bounty
11
doth appear,
And you in every blessèd shape we
know
12
.
In all external
grace
13
you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By
2
that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it
deem
3
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The
canker blooms
5
have full as deep a dye
As the perfumèd
tincture
6
of the roses,
Hang on such thorns and
play
7
as
wantonly
When summer’s breath their
maskèd buds discloses
8
:
But,
for their virtue only is their show
9
,
They live
unwooed
10
and
unrespected
fade,
Die
to themselves
11
. Sweet roses do not so:
Of their sweet deaths are
sweetest odours made
12
.
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When
that
14
shall fade, my verse distils your truth.
Not marble nor the gilded
monuments
1
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in
these contents
3
Than unswept stone besmeared
with
4
sluttish time
.
When
wasteful
5
war shall statues overturn,
And
broils
6
root out
the work of masonry,
Nor
7
Mars his
sword, nor war’s
quick
fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
Gainst death and
all oblivious enmity
9
Shall you pace forth, your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the
ending doom
12
.
So, till
the judgement that yourself arise
13
,
You live in
this
14
, and
dwell
in lovers’ eyes.
Sweet
love
1
, renew thy force. Be it not said
Thy
edge
2
should blunter be than appetite,
Which
but
3
today by feeding is allayed,
Tomorrow sharpened in his former might.
So love, be thou, although today thou fill
Thy hungry eyes even till they
wink
6
with fullness,
Tomorrow see again and do not kill
The spirit of love with a perpetual
dullness
8
.
Let this sad
int’rim
9
like the ocean be
Which parts the shore, where two
contracted new
10
Come daily to the banks,
that
11
, when they see
Return of love, more blest may be the view:
Or call
it
13
winter, which being full of
care
Makes summer’s welcome thrice more wished, more
rare
14
.
Being your slave, what should I do but
tend
1
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I
chide
5
the
world-without-end
hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu.
Nor dare I question with my
jealous
9
thought
Where you may be, or your affairs
suppose
10
,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save where you are how happy you make
those
12
.
So true a fool is love that
in your Will
13
,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
That god forbid, that made me first your slave
1
,
I should
in thought
2
control
your times of pleasure,
Or
at your hand th’account of hours to crave
3
,
Being your
vassal
4
, bound to
stay your leisure
.
O, let me suffer, being at your
beck
5
,
Th’imprisoned absence of your liberty
6
,
And
patience tame to sufferance
7
,
bide each check
Without accusing you of injury.
Be where you
list
9
, your
charter
is so strong
That you yourself may
privilege
10
your time
To what you will: to you it doth belong
Yourself
to pardon of self-doing crime
12
.
I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,
Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.