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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Is it thy will thy image should keep...
Language: English 
Is it thy will thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shames and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenor of thy jealousy?
O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great:
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake;
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake:
  For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
  From me far off, with others all too near.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 61 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by John Buller (1927 - 2004), "Is it thy will thy image should keep open" [ voice, flute, clarinet, string quartet, and harp ], from Of Three Shakespeare Sonnets, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Benjamin Burrows (1891 - 1966), "Sonnet LXI", 1928 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LXI", 1865, rev. 1866 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 61, first published 1857


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 121

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