Sonnet XLIV. [If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,]

If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then despite of space I would be brought,
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth remov'd from thee;
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land,
As soon as think the place where he would be.
But, ah! thought kills me that I am not thought,
To leap large lengths of miles when thou art gone,
But that so much of earth and water wrought,
I must attend time's leisure with my moan;
      Receiving nought by elements so slow
      But heavy tears, badges of either's woe.

Sonnet XLIV. [If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,]

by William Shakespeare, 1609