Shakespeare's Sonnets (1923) Yale/Text/Sonnet 58
58
That god forbid that made me first your slave,
I should in thought control your times of pleasure,
Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,
Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure! 4
O, let me suffer, being at your beck,
The imprison'd absence of your liberty;
And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,
Without accusing you of injury. 8
Be where you list, your charter is so strong
That you yourself may privilege your time
To what you will; to you it doth belong
Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime. 12
I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,
Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.
6 The imprison'd . . . liberty; cf. n.
7 sufferance: suffering
check: rebuke
10 privilege: authorise
12 self-doing: done by yourself