Sonnet 57

Being your slave what should I do but tend,

Upon the houres, and times of your desire?

I have no precious time at al to spend;

Nor services to doe til you require.

Nor dare I chide the world without end houre,

Whilst I (my soveraine) watch the clock for you,

Nor thinke the bitternesse of absence sowre,

When you have bid your servant once adieue.

Nor dare I question with my jeallous thought,

Where you may be, or your affaires suppose,

But like a sad slave stay and thinke of nought

Save where you are, how happy you make those.

So true a foole is love, that in you Will,

(Though you doe any thing) he thinkes no ill.

Commentary

Address to his beloved

In the first quatrain, the poet asks, since he is the beloved's slave, what else should he (the poet) do but wait upon his sovereign's pleasure.

In the second quatrain, the poet asserts that he dare not chide the slowly passing time (world without end houre), nor complain about his beloved's absence.

In the third quatrain, the poet asserts that he dare not question where his beloved may be nor what he might be doing, but reflect simply on how happy the must be who are in the beloved's presence.

In the final couplet, the poet asserts that love is such a fool that he (Will) will put up with anything and think no ill.

Maybe he's had enough of you, Will.

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