Sonnet 61

Is it thy wil, thy Image should keepe open

My heavy eielids to the weary night?

Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,

While shadowes like to thee do mocke my sight?

Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee

So farre from home into my deeds to prye,

To find out shames and idle houres in me,

The skope and tenure of thy Jealousie?

O no, thy love though much, is not so great,

It is my love that keepes mine eie awake,

Mine owne true love that doth my rest defeat,

To plaie the watch-man for thy sake.

For thee watch I , whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,

From me farre of, with others all too neere.

Commentary

Address to his beloved far away

In the first quatrain, the poet asks whether the beloved wishes him (the poet) to wake during the night, and sends his (the beloved's) shadow to break his (the poet's) sleep.

In the second quatrain, the poet asks whether it is the beloved's love and jealousy that prompts him (the beloved) to send his spirit to have a look at what he (the poet) is doing. Unlikely.

In the third quatrain, the poet rejects the previous hypotheses, stating now that it is his (the poet's) love that keeps him (the poet) awake (plaie the watch-man).

In the final couplet, the poet re-affirms that it is he (the poet) who watches while his beloved is awake elsewhere, all too near to other men.

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