Enter Imogen and Pisanio. IMOGEN
I would thou grew’st unto the shores o’ th’ haven
And questionedst every sail. If he should write
And I not have it, ’twere a paper lost
As offered mercy is. What was the last
That he spake to thee? 5 PISANIO It was his queen, his queen! | Imogen begs Pisanio for any morsel about her lovey-dovey, Posthumus. When she asks what he heard Posthumus talk about last, Pisanio says it was about her, of course. |
IMOGEN
Then waved his handkerchief? PISANIO And kissed it, madam. IMOGEN
Senseless linen, happier therein than I.
And that was all? 10 | Pisanio remembers his master kissed his handkerchief and waved it goodbye. Then Imogen wishes she were that handkerchief, so she could be kissed by him. Wait, what? Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah: in Romeo and Juliet. |
PISANIO No, madam. For so long
As he could make me with this eye or ear
Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove or hat or handkerchief
Still waving, as the fits and stirs of ’s mind 15
Could best express how slow his soul sailed on,
How swift his ship. IMOGEN Thou shouldst have made him
As little as a crow, or less, ere left
To after-eye him. 20 PISANIO Madam, so I did. IMOGEN
I would have broke mine eyestrings, cracked them,
but
To look upon him till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle; 25
Nay, followed him till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turned mine eye and wept. But, good Pisanio,
When shall we hear from him? PISANIO Be assured, madam, 30
With his next vantage. IMOGEN
I did not take my leave of him, but had
Most pretty things to say. Ere I could tell him
How I would think on him at certain hours
Such thoughts and such; or I could make him swear 35
The shes of Italy should not betray
Mine interest and his honor; or have charged him
At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight
T’ encounter me with orisons, for then
I am in heaven for him; or ere I could 40
Give him that parting kiss which I had set
Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father,
And like the tyrannous breathing of the north
Shakes all our buds from growing. | There's lots of talk about how Imogen wishes she were actually with Posthumus. Then Pisanio says his master talked of how he hopes to commune with her in spirit. That's sort of like a Skype date for psychics. |
Enter a Lady. LADY The Queen, madam, 45
Desires your Highness’ company. IMOGEN, to Pisanio
Those things I bid you do, get them dispatched.
I will attend the Queen. PISANIO Madam, I shall.
They exit. | A lady enters, telling Imogen the Queen wants to see her. |