Sonnet · Peace

Sonnet 58: That god forbid, that made me first your slave

by William Shakespeare

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1That god forbid, that made me first your slave,

2I should in thought control your times of pleasure,

3Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,

4Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure!

5O! let me suffer, being at your beck,

6The imprison'd absence of your liberty;

7And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,

8Without accusing you of injury.

9Be where you list, your charter is so strong

10That you yourself may privilage your time

11To what you will; to you it doth belong

12Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime.

13 I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,

14 Not blame your pleasure be it ill or well.

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“Sonnet 58: That god forbid, that made me first your slave” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-58

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 58: That god forbid, that made me first your slave
Poet: William Shakespeare
Length: 14 lines
Form: Sonnet
Themes: Peace

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Lines run 10-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Author record: William Shakespeare1564–1616
Source record: PoetryDBSonnet 58: That god forbid, that made me first your slave by william-shakespeare, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 bb22be4e28ecb00b…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Sonnet Peace

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