Sonnet · Fair Youth Sonnets

Sonnet 47

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,

And each doth good turns now unto the other:

When that mine eye is famish’d for a look,

Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,

With my love’s picture then my eye doth feast,

And to the painted banquet bids my heart;

Another time mine eye is my heart’s guest,

And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:

So, either by thy picture or my love,

Thyself away, art present still with me;

For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,

And I am still with them, and they with thee;

Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight

Awakes my heart, to heart’s and eye’s delight.

What it's about

A clever meditation on how the beloved stays present through memory and portraiture. The speaker invents a partnership between eye and heart: the portrait feeds longing, thought sustains connection. Absence becomes impossible because desire itself keeps the beloved perpetually near.

In plain English

My eye and heart have made a pact to help each other out. When my eye is starved for a glimpse of you, it feasts on your portrait. When my heart aches with love, my eye brings that painted image to comfort it. Sometimes my eye acts as messenger to my heart, carrying the love it sees.

Even when you're gone, you're never really absent from me. You can't travel further than my thoughts can reach, and I'm always in those thoughts—which means I'm always with you. If my mind ever rests, your picture keeps my heart awake and satisfied.

Lines that stick

  • Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took
  • Thyself away, art present still with me
  • For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move

Themes

  • love
  • absence
  • memory
  • devotion
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