| SONNET 61 |
PARAPHRASE |
| Is it thy will thy image should keep open |
Is it because you will it to be so that your image keeps open |
| My heavy eyelids to the weary night? |
My sleepy eyes at night? |
| Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken, |
Do you really want my sleep to be interrupted, |
| While shadows like to thee do mock my sight? |
While shadows of you taunt me? |
| Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee |
Do you send your spirit to me from wherever you are |
| So far from home into my deeds to pry, |
To watch all that I do, |
| To find out shames and idle hours in me, |
To find out how I spend my time; to see if I am doing something you don't like? |
| The scope and tenor of thy jealousy? |
Is this how jealous you really are? |
| O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great: |
But no! Your love may be strong, but it is not that great: |
| It is my love that keeps mine eye awake; |
It is my own love for you that keeps me awake at night, |
| Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, |
My own true love that watches all that I do (keeps me out of trouble) |
| To play the watchman ever for thy sake: |
For your sake. |
| For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere, |
For you alone I watch, while you are waking somewhere far away, |
| From me far off, with others all too near. |
You are far from me, while others are too near. |
Shakespeare on Jealousy
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,