Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other,
When that mine eye is famished 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.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 47 is one of the large number of the sequence addressed to a well-born young man. More locally, it is a thematic continuation of Sonnet 46. [from Wikipedia]
A part of this sonnet was mentioned in C.S.I. last week, and I thought I'd read the whole thing. : -) This is a wonderful poem. Even though the speaker's sweetheart wasn't with him, he still had his picture, and that satisfied his hungry heart.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
in ITALIAN: Il mio cuore ed i miei occhi sono adesso sono alleati e si scambiano reciproche cortesie: quando i miei occhi bramano un tuo sguardo, e quando il cuore reprime i suoi sospiri, i miei occhi si nutrono della sua immagine dipinta, ed a questo banchetto gli occhi invitano anche il cuore; altra volta e' il mio cuore che rende visita agli occhi, condividendone i suoi pensieri d'amore. In questo modo, con il tuo ritratto e con l'amore, pur essendo lontano mi sei vicino; non puoi allontanarti più dai miei pensieri, ed io sono per tutto il tempo con loro, e loro per tutto il tempo con te. E se i pensieri dormono, allora l'immagine del tuo ritratto, scolpita negli occhi, ridesta il cuore, per la gioia di entrambi.