Shakespeare's Sonnets: How heavy do I journey on the way

Sonnet 50

Original Text

SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): d3r-d3v.

1How heavy do I journey on the way,

2When what I seek (my weary travel's end)

3Doth teach that ease and that repose to say

4"Thus far the miles are measur'd from thy friend."

5The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,

6Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,

7As if by some instinct the wretch did know

8His rider lov'd not speed, being made from thee.

9The bloody spur cannot provoke him on

10That some-times anger thrusts into his hide,

11Which heavily he answers with a groan,

12More sharp to me than spurring to his side,

13 For that same groan doth put this in my mind,

14 My grief lies onward and my joy behind.

Publication Start Year

1609

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2008

Rhyme

Form