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. |