Sonnet 50
How heavy do I journey on the way,
travel
separation
grief
longing
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel's end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to say
'Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!'
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider loved not speed, being made from thee:
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide;
Which heavily he answers with a groan,
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind;
My grief lies onward and my joy behind.
What It Means
Shakespeare is riding slowly, and his horse senses his reluctance. Every step forward is a step away from the young man; every step is a grief. The horse, as if it knows this, barely moves. When Shakespeare spurs it on, the groan it makes is the sorrow of leaving. It's one of the most physical sonnets in the sequence — the weight of separation translated into the literal weight of travel.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. Sonnets 50–51 are a pair about the journey away and the imagined journey back.
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