Page:Richard II (1921) Yale.djvu/31

King Richard the Second, I. iii

But what thou art, God, thou, and I do know;

And all too soon, I fear, the king shall rue.

Farewell, my liege. Now no way can I stray;

Save back to England, all the worlds my way.

K. Rich. Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes

I see thy grieved heart: thy sad aspect

Hath from the number of his banish'd years

Pluck'd four away.—[To Bolingbroke.] Six frozen winters spent,

Return with welcome home from banishment.

Boling. How long a time lies in one little word!

Four lagging winters and four wanton springs

End in a word: such is the breath of kings.

Gaunt. I thank my liege, that in regard of me

He shortens four years of my son's exile;

But little vantage shall I reap thereby:

For, ere the six years that he hath to spend

Can change their moons and bring their times about,

My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light

Shall be extinct with age and endless night;

My inch of taper will be burnt and done,

And blindfold death not let me see my son.

K. Rich. Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live.

Gaunt. But not a minute, king, that thou canst give:

Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow,

And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow;

Thou canst help time to furrow me with age,

 206 stray: get lost

208 glasses: eyeballs

216 in regard of: out of consideration for

221 oil-dried: with oil exhausted

