The speaker, in Sonnet 143, uses a complex structure of adverbial clauses to express his notion that as a housewife runs after her fleeing bird (first quatrain), while her infant tries to follow her and wails after her (second quatrain), thus he behaves toward to his dark beauty (third quatrain), therefore he will make a plea (couplet).
First Quatrain: “Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch”
The speaker creates a dramatic scene in which a “careful housewife runs to catch / One of her feather’d creatures” that has managed to escape the coop and is fleeing to parts unknown. The housewife, who is also a mother, plops down her infant and quickly speeds off in quest of the chicken.
The first quatrain offers only one complex clause of the complex sentence of which this sonnet is composed. An entanglement of grammatical and technical elements often pops up in this speaker’s discourse, and his dexterity in sorting them out supplies the evidence that his appraisal of his writing talent is not mere braggadocio in the earlier sonnets.
Second Quatrain: “Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase”
The unfortunate child tries to catch the mother, wailing after her as she chases the bird. The child keeps his eye on his mother, who is hell-bent on retrieving the bird. Although the child is heartbroken while the mother runs after the critter, she is hardly cognizant of her baby at all, because she so covets recovery of the chicken.
Third Quatrain: “So runn’st thou after that which flies from thee”
In the third quatrain, the speaker then spits out his comparison: the dark mistress plays the role of the mother, while the speaker portrays “[her] babe.” The woman continues to fly from the arms of the speaker, chasing the affection of other men.
But the speaker, even as he offers his hilarious dramatic comparison, also hopes to soften the woman’s heart by asserting that the mother will eventually return to her babe and shower him with kisses and be kind to him. He is urging the lady to behave similarly towards him.
The Couplet: “So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will”
The speaker has become so enamored of his “Will” pun that he exploits it again in this sonnet. He will “pray” that the woman “may[ ] have [her] Will.” Punning on his pseudonym, he claims he is praying that she achieve her wishes by returning to him.
Whatever she is chasing, whether sexual gratification or vanity of some sort, the speaker tries to assure her that he can fulfill her desires, if only she will “turn back” to him and stop his “crying” for her.
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