1. If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
2. Injurious distance should not stop my way,
3. For then despite of space I would be brought,
4. From limits far remote, where thou dost stay,
5. No matter then although my foot did stand
6. Upon the farthest earth removed from thee,
7. For nimble thought can jump both sea and land,
8. As soon as think the place where he would be.
9. But ah! thought kills me that I am not thought
10. To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
11. But that so much of earth and water wrought,
12. I must attend, time's leisure with my moan.
13. Receiving nought by elements so slow,
14. But heavy tears, badges of either's woe.
Tears of Woe
Dedication: To Elizabeth
An expression of his desire to have the ability to move distances the same way his thoughts migrate presumably to be near Elizabeth but explaining that as discussed previously what the water and earth represent and there being so much of it that he can not merely think away makes him depressed.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Oxford Explaining to Elizabeth that if he could transcend his physical limits with his thoughts he would be with her.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Reiterating again how he wished he could extend beyond the ordinary and at any instant be where his thoughts are
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Reflecting on the irony of thought telling him he is not pure thought. That he must reconcile the physical limits. Then Oxford comments that the distance is actually made of those two elements that he finds so troubling, the water representing his feelings and emotions, while the earth represents the stable, consistent and rigid condition of the present state he finds so objectionable.
couplet (13-14),
Finishing with his both having to wait for news and there being none (with regard to Henry's recognition) produces great woe distress from both of these noxious elements.
Commentary:
As mentioned this is the other half of the pair dealing with the four elements of nature. This sonnet dealing with the land and water (sea) which represent the things the poet finds less fulfilling. Water represents the feelings and emotions which he no doubt would prefer not to feel as these in regard to Henry are not so pleasant. While earth represents among others the decay, rigidness, and stability that he wishes not to see expressed so explicitly as he does. Thus this likely the source of his displeasure expressed in the couplet. The couplet reveals that the poet is very dissatisfied with what he receives from the two “slow” elements, water, and earth. The first half of the sonnet expresses of course the feeling of frustration that the poet can not transcend the physical distance as his thoughts do between himself and Elizabeth.
This section of the sonnets probably contains the most complicated and richly detailed messages, which I believe owes both to the maturity of the conversation which has been conducted in them and to the maturity of the poet who has reached his greatest heights.