Allen Ginsberg on Shakespeare’s Sonnets continued.
AG: Then, a very poignant one that …number 64…well, no, no, no, number 57 (which you don’t have), where he really gets so pushed in the love affair that he gets into a sort of sado-masochistic relation and will give anything if his boyfriend will be nice to him – number 57, which you don’t have, so I’ll read it, beginning, ominously “Being your slave..” (So, actually, it’s a slave-master relation that he’s setting up)
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.
“Being your slave, what should I do but tend/Upon the hours and times of your desire?” (In other words, what can do but hang around and wait for you to get it up, or wait for you to be interested, you know, what can I do but just hang around like a dog, sort of, being a slave) – “Being your.. “ (being a slave) – “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 (in other words, you know, nor do I get mad at a long long time, it seems like a world-without-end, waiting an hour (to do it) – (maybe they’re in bed together and he’s waiting for the guy to wake up and give him a tumble or something, or just.. – or maybe the guy’s drinking with friends and Shakespeare’s trying to get him off to bed and they can’t, and he’s having to hang around at the tavern and the guy’s getting drunker and drunker and doesn’t give a shit if Shakespeare’s waiting) – “Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour” without him” – “Nor dare I chide” – (complain, you know, complain) -“Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour/Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you” (my king – I am my king but 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”). So Shakespeare’s got a case at that point and realizes he is sick! – “in your will” (it’s a pun – in your Will Shakespeare). “So true a fool is love that in your will” (in your boyfriend, William) “Though you do anything, William thinks no ill”. – “So true a fool is love that in your will “. So, “Will” is yours, (or, in your will-power, under your will). So it’s real S & M. The next one goes….
to be continued
[Audio for the above can be heard here, beginning at approximately forty-one-and-a-half minutes in and concluding at approximately forty-four-and-a-quarter minutes in].