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The Poetry of John Donne

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The poetry of John Donne (a) Texts (Public domain. Footnotes by A.C. Kibel) ELEGY XIX. TO HIS MISTRESS GOING TO BED 1 Come, madam, come, all rest my powers defy; 2 Until I labour, I in labour lie. 3 The foe ofttimes, having the foe in sight, 4 Is tired with standing, though he never fight. 5 Off with that girdle, like heaven's zone glittering, 6 But a far fairer world encompassing. 7 Unpin that spangled breast-plate, which you wear, 8 That th' eyes of busy fools may be stopp'd there. 9 Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime 10 Tells me from you that now it is bed-time. 11 Off with that happy busk, which I envy, 12 That still can be, and still can stand so nigh. 13 Your gown going off such beauteous state reveals, 14 As when from flowery meads th' hill's shadow steals. 15 Off with your wiry coronet, and show 16 The hairy diadems which on you do grow. 17 Off with your hose and shoes; then softly tread 18 In this love's hallow'd temple, this soft bed. 19 In such white robes heaven's angels used to be 20 Revealed to men; thou, angel, bring'st with thee 21 A heaven-like Mahomet's paradise; and though 22 Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know 23 By this these angels from an evil sprite; 24 Those set our hairs, but these our flesh upright. 25 Licence my roving hands, and let them go 26 Before, behind, between, above, below. 27 O, my America, my Newfoundland, 28 My kingdom, safest when with one man mann'd, 29 My mine of precious stones, my empery; 30 How am I blest in thus discovering thee! 31 To enter in these bonds, is to be free; 32 Then, where my hand is set, my soul shall be. 33 Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee; 34 As souls unbodied, bodies unclothed must be 35 To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use 36 Are like Atlanta's ball cast in men's views; 37 That, when a fool's eye lighteth on a gem, 38 His earthly soul might court that, not them. 39 Like pictures, or like books' gay coverings made 40 For laymen, are all women thus array'd. 41 Themselves are only mystic books, which we 42 (Whom their imputed grace will dignify) 43 Must see reveal'd. Then, since that I may know, 44 As liberally as to thy midwife show 45 Thyself; cast all, yea, this white linen hence; 46 There is no penance due to innocence: 47 To teach thee, I am naked first; why then, 48 What needst thou have more covering than a man? THE FLEA 1 Mark but this flea, and mark in this, 2 How little that which thou deny'st me is; 3 It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, 4 And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; 5 Thou know'st that this cannot be said 6 A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead; 7 Yet this enjoys before it woo, 8 And pampered swells with one blood made of two, 9 And this, alas, is more than we would do. 10 Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, 11 Where we almost, yea, more than married are. 12 This flea is you and I, and this 13 Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is; 14 Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met, 15 And cloistered in these living walls of jet. 16 Though use make you apt to kill me, 17 Let not to that, self-murder added be, 18 And sacrilege, three sins in killing three. 19 Cruel and sudden, hast thou since 20 Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence? 21 Wherein could this flea guilty be, 22 Except in that drop which it sucked from thee? 23 Yet thou triumph'st and say'st that thou 24 Find'st not thyself, nor me the weaker now; 25 'Tis true, then learn how false fears be: 26 Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me, 27 Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee. THE GOOD MORROW 1 I wonder by my troth, what thou and I 2 Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then, 3 But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly? 4 Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den1? 1According to a popular legend, certain Christians escaped persecution in the second century by walling themselves up in a cave, where they slept miraculously for two centuries and then emerged unharmed. 5 'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. 6 If ever any beauty I did see, 7 Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee. 8 And now good morrow to our waking souls, 9 Which watch not one another out of fear; 10 For love, all love of other sights controls, 11 And makes one little room, an everywhere. 12 Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, 13 Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown, 14 Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. 15 My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 16 And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; 17 Where can we find two better hemispheres, 18 Without sharp north, without declining west? 19 Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally2; 20 If our two loves be one, or, thou and I 21 Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. SONG 1 Go and catch a falling star, 2 Get with child a mandrake root, 3 Tell me where all past years are, 4 Or who cleft the devil's foot, 5 Teach me to hear mermaids singing, 6 Or to keep off envy's stinging, 7 And find 8 What wind 9 Serves to advance an honest mind. 10 If thou be'st born to strange sights, 11 Things invisible to see, 12 Ride ten thousand days and nights, 13 Till age snow white hairs on thee, 14 Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, 2According to alchemical lore, what is composed disproportionately of uncompounded parts suffers eventual extinction. 15 All strange wonders that befell thee, 16 And swear, 17 No where 18 Lives a woman true, and fair. 19 If thou find'st one, let me know, 20 Such a pilgrimage were sweet; 21 Yet do not, I would not go, 22 Though at next door we might meet; 23 Though she were true, when you met her, 24 And last, till you write your letter, 25 Yet she 26 Will be 27 False, ere I come, to two, or three. THE SUN RISING 1 Busy old fool, unruly Sun, 2 Why dost thou thus, 3 Through windows, and through curtains, call on us? 4 Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run? 5 Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide 6 Late schoolboys, and sour prentices, 7 Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride, 8 Call country ants to harvest offices, 9 Love, all alike3, no season knows, nor clime, 10 Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. 11 Thy beams, so reverend and strong 12 Why shouldst thou think? 13 I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, 14 But that I would not lose her sight so long: 15 If her eyes have not blinded thine, 16 Look, and tomorrow late, tell me 17 Whether both the'Indias of spice and mine4 18 Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me. 19 Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday, 20 And thou shalt hear: "All here in one bed lay." 3 Either “everywhere the same” or “always the same”. 4 The East Indies yielded spices, the West Indies precious metals. 21 She'is all states, and all princes I, 22 Nothing else is. 23 Princes do but play us; compar'd to this, 24 All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy5. 25 Thou, sun, art half as happy'as we, 26 In that the world's contracted thus; 27 Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be 28 To warm the world, that's done in warming us. 29 Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; 30 This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere. THE CANONIZATION 1 For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love, 2 Or chide my palsy, or my gout, 3 My five grey hairs, or ruin'd fortune flout, 4 With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve, 5 Take you a course, get you a place, 6 Observe his Honour, or his Grace, 7 Or the King's real, or his stamped face 8 Contemplate, what you will, approve, 9 So you will let me love. 10 Alas, alas, who's injur'd by my love? 11 What merchant's ships have my sighs drown'd? 12 Who says my tears have overflow'd his ground? 13 When did my colds a forward spring remove? 14 When did the heats which my veins fill 15 Add one more to the plaguy bill? 16 Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still 17 Litigious men, which quarrels move, 18 Though she and I do love. 19 Call us what you will, we are made such by love; 20 Call her one, me another fly6, 21 We'are tapers too, and at our own cost die, 22 And we in us find the'eagle and the dove7.
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