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KING JAMES
SONNET NO. 57
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 is your will
(Though you do anything) he thinks no ill.
Note the repetition of the following, we find-, nor, nor, nor,
nor, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, your slave, your desire,
your servant, your affairs, your will.
5th Line. World-without-end hour-the tedious hour that
seems that it would never end.
This sonnet is addressed by Bacon to King James. He says
that he is the King's slave . A slave is a person who is submis-
sively devote and Bacon was devoted to the service of his King
and he will do anything that the King requires him to do. He
says that he watches the clock for the King (his Sovereign).
(Watching the clock means the act of guarding.) This sonnet
could not have been written by Will Shakspere of Stratford who
was not in a position to guard the King in any way-he was
never on personal terms with either Queen Elizabeth or King
James-he was never a personal servant to either Sovereign.
Bacon says that he dare not question the affairs of his King
and like a faithful servant (a slave) thinks only of the people who the King makes happy and that he must not think ill of anything that the King does because he is such a fool as to love his King.