by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)
Being your slave what should I do but...
Language: English
Our translations: ITA
Being your slave what should I do but tend,
Upon the hours, and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend;
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour,
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour,
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are, how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love, that in your will,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 57 [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 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet LVII - Being your slave", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 1 no. 8 (1944-7) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet LVII", 1865-6 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joel Weiss , "Sonnet 57", 1995 [ 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. 57, first published 1857
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 117
Étant votre serf, ai‑je autre chose à...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Étant votre serf, ai-je autre chose à faire qu'à attendre les heures et les moments de votre caprice ? Je n'ai pas de temps précieux à dépenser, pas de service à faire, jusqu'à ce que vous les réclamiez. Et je n'ose pas gronder l'heure qui n'en finit pas, quand, ô mon souverain, je regarde l'horloge en vous espérant, et je n'accuse pas les amertumes de l'acre absence, quand une fois vous avez dit adieu à votre serviteur. Et je n'ose demander à ma pensée jalouse où vous pouvez être et où vos affaires vous supposent. Mais, comme un triste serf, j'attends et ne pense rien, sinon comme vous rendez heureux ceux avec qui vous êtes. Si fou est mon amour que dans ce qui vous plaît, quoi que vous fassiez, il ne voit rien de mal.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 57, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 57
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-08-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 135