Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 3
A room in Cymbeline’s palace.
Imogen : I would thou grew'st unto the shores o' the haven,
[p]And question'dst
every sail: if he should write
[p]And not have it, 'twere a paper
lost,
[p]As offer'd mercy is. What was the last
[p]That he spake to
thee?
Pisanio : It was his queen, his queen!
Imogen : Then waved his handkerchief?
Pisanio : And kiss'd it, madam.
Imogen : Senseless Linen! happier therein than I!
[p]And that was all?
Pisanio : No, madam; for so long
[p]As he could make me with this eye or
ear
[p]Distinguish him from others, he did keep
[p]The deck, with
glove, or hat, or handkerchief,
[p]Still waving, as the fits and stirs
of 's mind
[p]Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on,
[p]How
swift his ship.
Imogen : Thou shouldst have made him
[p]As little as a crow, or less, ere
left
[p]To after-eye him.
Pisanio : Madam, so I did.
Imogen : I would have broke mine eye-strings; crack'd them, but
[p]To look upon
him, till the diminution
[p]Of space had pointed him sharp as my
needle,
[p]Nay, follow'd him, till he had melted from
[p]The smallness
of a gnat to air, and then
[p]Have turn'd mine eye and wept. But, good
Pisanio,
[p]When shall we hear from him?
Pisanio : Be assured, madam,
[p]With his next vantage.
Imogen : I did not take my leave of him, but had
[p]Most pretty things to say:
ere I could tell him
[p]How I would think on him at certain
hours
[p]Such thoughts and such, or I could make him swear
[p]The shes
of Italy should not betray
[p]Mine interest and his honour, or have
charged him,
[p]At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight,
[p]To
encounter me with orisons, for then
[p]I am in heaven for him; or ere
I could
[p]Give him that parting kiss which I had set
[p]Betwixt two
charming words, comes in my father
[p]And like the tyrannous breathing
of the north
[p]Shakes all our buds from growing.
Lady : The queen, madam,
[p]Desires your highness' company.
Imogen : Those things I bid you do, get them dispatch'd.
[p]I will attend the
queen.
Pisanio : Madam, I shall.
Previous: Act 1 - Scene 2
Next: Act 1 - Scene 4
