Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/113

King Richard the Second, V. v Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,

And so I am: then crushing penury

Persuades me I was better when a king;

Then am I king'd again; and by and by

Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,

And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,

Nor I nor any man that but man is

With nothing shall be pleas'd, till he be eas'd

With being nothing.

Music do I hear?

Ha, ha! keep time. How sour sweet music is

When time is broke and no proportion kept!

So is it in the music of men's lives.

And here have I the daintiness of ear

To check time broke in a disorder'd string;

But for the concord of my state and time

Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;

For now hath time made me his numbering clock:

My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar

Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,

Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,

Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.

Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is

Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart

Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans

Show minutes, times, and hours; but my time

Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,

While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.

This music mads me: let it sound no more;

 38 straight: immediately

43 proportion: rhythm

45 daintiness: fastidiousness

46 check: reprove

50 clock; cf. n.

51 jar: cause to tick, or indicate by ticking

60 Jack: automaton striking the hours [at St. Dunstan's]

