¡¶John Donne Selected Poems¡·


 John Donne Selected Poems-1

    AS virtuous men pass mildly away,

    And o go,

    some of their sad friends do say,

    quot;No;No.quot;

    So let us melt, and make no noise,

    No tear-floods, nor sigempests move ;

    tion of our joys

    to tell ty our love.

    Moving of th brings harms and fears ;

    Men reckon  did, and meant ;

    But trepidation of the spheres,

    ter far, is innocent.

    Dull sublunary lovers love

    ¡ª admit

    Of absence, cause it doth remove

    ted it.

    But we by a love so much refined,

    t ourselves kno  is,

    Inter-assurèd of the mind,

    Care less, eyes, lips and o miss.

    Our therefore, which are one,

    t go, endure not yet

    A breac an expansion,

    Like gold to aery t.

    If two so

    As stiff two ;

    t, makes no show

    to move, but dother do.

    And t in tre sit,

    Yet, wh roam,

    It leans, and er it,

    And gro, as t comes home.

    Suc to me, w,

    Like t, obliquely run ;

    t,

    And makes me end where I begun.

 John Donne Selected Poems-2

    MARK but this,

    tle t w me is ;

    It suckd me first, and nohee,

    And in two bloods mingled be.

    t t t be said

    A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead ;

    Yet t woo,

    And pamperd swo ;

    And than we would do.

    O stay, three lives in one flea spare,

    , yea, more than married are.

    this

    Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.

    ts grudge, and you, ,

    And cloisterd in t.

    t to kill me,

    Let not to t self-murder added be,

    And sacrilege, three.

    Cruel and sudden,  thou since

    Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?

    y be,

    Except in t drop hee?

    Yet triump, and sayst t thou

    Findst not the weaker now.

    tis true ; then learn how false fears be ;

    Just so muc to me,

    ill e, as took life from thee.

    I ONDER by my trot thou and I

    Did, till  ill then ?

    But suckd on country pleasures, childishly ?

    Or snorted he Seven Sleepers den ?

    t this, all pleasures fancies be ;

    If ever any beauty I did see,

    , t a dream of thee.

    And noo our waking souls,

    c one anot of fear ;

    For love all love of ots controls,

    And makes one little room an everywhere.

    Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;

    Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;

    Let us possess one world ; each one, and is one.

    My face in thine in mine appears,

    And true plain s do in t ;

    ter hemispheres

    it s declining  ?

    ever dies,  mixd equally ;

    If our thou and I

    Love so alike t none can slacken, none can die.

    GO and catcar,

    Get ,

    tell me w years are,

    Or ,

    teaco hear mermaids singing,

    Or to keep off envys stinging,

    And find

    wind

    Serves to advance an  mind.

    If t born to strange sights,

    to see,

    Ride ten ts,

    till age snow we hee,

    turnst,  tell me,

    All strange  befell thee,

    And swear,

    No where

    Lives a rue and fair.

    If t one, let me know,

    Suc;

    Yet do not, I  go,

    t next door we mig,

    true, w her,

    And last, till you e your letter,

    Yet she

    ill be

    False, ere I come, to three.

    NO t loved me one whole day,

    to-morro thou say ?

    ilt tedate some new-made vow ?

    Or say t now

    e are not just those persons which we were ?

    Or t oatial fear

    Of Love, and h, any may forswear ?

    Or, as true deatrue marriages untie,

    So lovers contracts, images of those,

    Bind but till sleep, deathem unloose ?

    Or, your oo justify,

    For having purposed change and falsehood, you

    Can  falseo be true ?

    Vain lunatic, against these scapes I could

    Dispute, and conquer, if I would ;

    ain to do,

    For by to-morrooo.

    I hing

    thies did ;

    And yet a braver th spring,

    o keep t hid.

    It  madness noo impart

    tone,

    to cut it, can find none.

    So, if I noer this,

    Others¡ªbecause no more

    Sucuff to here is¡ª

    ould love but as before.

    But hin

    hes,

    For he who color loves, and skin,

    Loves but t clothes.

    If, as I have, you also do

    Virtue in woman see,

    And dare love t, and say so too,

    And forget the he and She ;

    And if though placèd so,

    From profane men you hide,

    ow,

    Or, if they do, deride ;

    thing

    thies did ;

    And a braver thence will spring,

    o keep t hid.

    BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,

    thus,

    tains, call on us ?

    Must to tions lovers seasons run ?

    Saucy pedantic ch, go chide

    Late scices,

    Go tell court-smen t the king will ride,

    Call country ants to  offices ;

    Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

    Nor ime.

    trong

    think ?

    I could eclipse and cloud th a wink,

    But t I  lose  so long.

    If  blinded thine,

    Look, and to-morroe tell me,

    h Indias of spice and mine

    Be  th me.

    Ask for t yesterday,

    And t ;All ;

    Sates, and all princes I ;

    Nothing else is ;

    Princes do but play us ; compared to this,

    All h alchemy.

    t half as happy as we,

    In t tracted thus ;

    ties be

    to s done in warming us.

    So us, and t everywhere ;

    ter is, thy sphere.

    I CAN love both fair and brown ;

    s, and  betrays ;

    , and her who masks and plays ;

    ry formd, and wown ;

    ries ;

    ill h spongy eyes,

    And her who is dry cork, and never cries.

    I can love her, and her, and you, and you ;

    I can love any, so s true.

    ill no otent you ?

    ill it not serve your turn to do as did your mothers ?

    Or , and no others ?

    Or dot men are true torment you ?

    O , be not you so ;

    Let me¡ªand do you¡ªty know ;

    Rob me, but bind me not, and let me go.

    Must I, ravel thorough you,

    Gro, because you are true ?

    Venus his song ;

    And by loves sest part, variety, she swore,

    S till no it should be so no more.

    S, examined, and returnd ere long,

    And said, quot;Alas ! some three

    Poor ics in love there be,

    o stablisancy.

    But I old true,

    You srue to to you. quot;

 John Donne Selected Poems-3

    FOR every  t spare me now,

    I will allow,

    Usurious god of love, ty to thee,

    h my brown my gray hairs equal be.

    till t my body range, and let

    Me travel, sojourn, snatc, ,

    Resume my last years relict ; t yet

    ed never met.

    Let me tter mine,

    And at next nine

    Keep midnigake by the way

    tell t delay ;

    Only let me love none ; no, not t

    From country grass to confitures of court,

    Or citys quelque-c not report

    My mind transport.

    this bargains good ; if when Im old, I be

    Inflamed by thee,

    If thine own honour, or my shame and pain,

    t most, at t age t gain.

    Do t and degree

    And fruit of love, Love, I submit to thee.

    Spare me till t, though she be

    One t love me.

    FOR Gods sake ongue, and let me love ;

    Or c ;

    My five gray une flout ;

    itate, your mind s improve ;

    take you a course, get you a place,

    Observe his honour, or his Grace ;

    Or tampd face

    Contemplate ; w you will, approve,

    So you  me love.

    Alas ! alas ! whos injured by my love?

    mercs ships have my sighs drownd?

    ears have overflowd his ground?

    hen did my colds a forward spring remove?

    s which my veins fill

    Add one more to the plaguy bill?

    Soldiers find  still

    Litigious men, which quarrels move,

    though she and I do love.

    Calls w you will, we are made such by love ;

    Call her fly,

    ere tapers too, and at our o die,

    And he dove.

    t

    By us ;  ;

    So, to one neutral t.

    e die and rise the same, and prove

    Mysterious by this love.

    e can die by it, if not live by love,

    And if unfit for tomb or hearse

    Our legend be, it  for verse ;

    And if no piece of chronicle we prove,

    ell build in sonnets pretty rooms ;

    As  urn becomes

    test asombs,

    And by these hymns, all shall approve

    Us canonized for love ;

    And t;You, whom reverend love

    Made one anotage ;

    You, to w now is rage ;

    ract, and drove

    Into the glasses of your eyes ;

    So made such mirrors, and such spies,

    t to you epitomize¡ª

    Countries, tos beg from above

    A pattern of your love.quot;

    I am two fools, I know,

    For loving, and for saying so

    In wry ;

    But   be I,

    If s deny ?

    ths inward narrow crooked lanes

    Do purge sea ers fretful salt away,

    I t, if I could draw my pains

    tion, I shem allay.

    Grief brougo numbers cannot be so fierce,

    For ames it, t fetters it in verse.

    But when I have done so,

    Some man,  and voice to show,

    Dot and sing my pain ;

    And, by delighting many, frees again

    Grief, wrain.

    to love and grief tribute of verse belongs,

    But not of sucis read.

    Both are increas¨¨d by such songs,

    For botriumphs so are published,

    And I, hree.

    tle  fools be.

    IF yet I  all thy love,

    Dear, I s all ;

    I cannot breato move,

    Nor can intreat one otear to fall ;

    And all my treasure, whee,

    Sigears, and oatters I  ;

    Yet no more can be due to me,

    t t.

    If t of love ial,

    t some to me, some so others fall,

    Dear, I shee all.

    Or if t me all,

    All  all, hen ;

    But if in t since there be or shall

    Need be by other men,

    ocks entire, and can in tears,

    In sigters, outbid me,

    t new fears,

    For t vohee.

    And yet it  being general ;

    t, is mine ; w ever shall

    Gro all.

    Yet I  .

    h all can have no more ;

    And since my love dot

    Ne ore ;

    t not every day give me t,

    If t give it, t it ;

    Loves riddles are, t t depart,

    It stays at  it ;

    But we will have a way more liberal,

    ts, to join them ; so we shall

    Be one, and one anothers all.

    SEEtESt love, I do not go,

    For hee,

    Nor in he world can show

    A fitter love for me ;

    But since t I

    At t must part, tis best,

    to use myself in jest

    By feigned deato die.

    Yesternig hence,

    And yet is o-day ;

    h no desire nor sense,

    Nor  a way ;

    t me,

    But believe t I shall make

    Speedier journeys, since I take

    More han he.

    O how feeble is mans power,

    t if good fortune fall,

    Cannot add another hour,

    Nor a lost hour recall ;

    But come bad chance,

    And o it our strength,

    And eac art and length,

    Itself oer us to advance.

    , t not wind,

    But sig my soul away ;

    , unkindly kind,

    My lifes blood doth decay.

    It cannot be

    t t me as t,

    If in te,

    t art t of me.

    Let not t

    Forethink me any ill ;

    Destiny may take t,

    And may thy fears fulfil.

    But t we

    Are but turnd aside to sleep.

    ther keep

    Alive, neer parted be.

    I died, and, dear, I die

    As often as from thee I go,

    t be but an hour ago

    ¡ªAnd lovers ernity¡ª

    I can remember yet, t I

    Sometow ;

    t me, I might be

    Mine oor, and legacy.

    I ;tell her anon,

    t myself,quot; t is you, not I,

    quot; Did kill me,quot; and w me die,

    I bid me send my , when I was gone ;

    But I alas ! could there find none ;

    s should lie,

    It killd me again, t I rue

    In life, in my last will should cozen you.

    Yet I found somet,

    But colours it, and corners had ;

    It  good, it  bad,

    It ire to none, and few  ;

    As good as could be made by art

    It seemd, and therefore for our loss be sad.

    I meant to send t  instead of mine,

    But O ! no man could , for thine.

 John Donne Selected Poems-4

    O ! DO not die, for I se

    All women so, w gone,

    t t celebrate,

    one.

    But yet t not die, I know ;

    to leave th ;

    But w go,

    th.

    Or if, w,

    It stay, tis but then ;

    t  t,

    But corrupt  men.

    O wrangling sc searc fire

    S

    Unto to aspire,

    t t be it?

    And yet s e by this,

    Nor long bear torturing wrong,

    For more corruption needful is,

    to fuel such a fever long.

    ts but meteors be,

    ter in t ;

    ty, and all parts, whee,

    Are unc.

    Yet thee,

    t in t pers¨¦ver ;

    For I her owner be

    Of than all else ever.

    tICE or thee,

    Before I knehy face or name ;

    So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame

    Angels affect us oft, and worshippd be.

    Still wo w, I came,

    Some lovely glorious nothing did I see.

    But since my soul, whose child love is,

    takes limbs of fleshing do,

    More subtle t is

    Love must not be, but take a body too ;

    And t t, and who,

    I bid Love ask, and now

    t it assume thy body, I allow,

    And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.

    to ballast love I t,

    And so more steadily to have gone,

    ition,

    I saw I  ;

    to work upon

    Is mucoo mucter must be sought ;

    For, nor in nothings

    Extreme, and scattering bright, can love inhere ;

    then as an angel face and wings

    Of air, not pure as it, yet pure doth wear,

    So thy love may be my loves sphere ;

    Just sucy

    As is t airs and angels purity,

    t womens love, and mens, will ever be.

    StAY, O s, and do not rise ;

    t t shine eyes ;

    t, it is my ,

    Because t you and I must part.

    Stay, or else my joys will die,

    And perisheir infancy.

    [ANOthE SAME.]

    tIS true, tis day ;  be?

    O,  therefore rise from me?

    is light?

    Did ?

    Love, we of darkness brougher,

    Se of ligogether.

    Ligongue, but is all eye ;

    If it could speak as well as spy,

    t t it could say,

    t being ay,

    And t I loved my  and honour so

    t I  from  hem, go.

    Must business thee from hence remove?

    O ! ts t disease of love,

    the false, love can

    Admit, but not the busied man.

    h do

    Such woo.

    ALL kings, and all tes,

    All glory of ies, s,

    t self, hey pass,

    Is elder by a year no was

    one another saw.

    All oto truction draw,

    Only our love h no decay ;

    to-morrow erday ;

    Running it never runs from us away,

    But truly keeps , last, everlasting day.

    t hine and my corse ;

    If one migh were no divorce.

    Alas ! as her princes, we

    ¡ªher be¡ª

    Must leave at last in deathese eyes and ears,

    Oft fed rue oat salt tears ;

    But souls w love

    ¡ªAll ots being inmates¡ªthen shall prove

    there above,

    o their graves remove.

    And t ;

    But no.

    we

    Can be sucs be.

    ho is so safe as we? where none can do

    treason to us, except one of us two.

    true and false fears let us refrain,

    Let us love nobly, and live, and add again

    Years and years unto years, till tain

    to e the second of our reign.

    I.

    MY name engraved herein

    Dotribute my firmness to this glass,

    ch been

    As  w was ;

    t price enougo mock

    ther rock.

    II.

    tis muc glass should be

    As all-confessing, and through-shine as I ;

    tis more t it so thee,

    And clear reflects to thine eye.

    But all such rules loves magic can undo ;

    here you see me, and I am you.

    III.

    As no one point, nor dash,

    accessories to this name,

    tempests can outwash

    So simes find me the same ;

    You tireness better may fulfill,

    tern ill.

    IV.

    Or if too hard and deep

    tco teach,

    It as a given deaths head keep,

    Lovers mortality to preach ;

    Or to be

    My ruinous anatomy.

    V.

    then, as all my souls be

    Emparadised in you¡ªin whom alone

    I understand, and grow, and see¡ª

    ters of my body, bone,

    Being still he muscle, sinew, and vein

    ile this house, will come again.

    VI.

    till my return repair

    And recompact my scatterd body so,

    As all tuous powers which are

    Fixd in tars are said to flow

    Into sucers as grav¨¨d be

    ars have supremacy.

    VII.

    So since t,

    ation had,

    No door gainst t.

    As much more loving, as more sad,

    t, till I return,

    Since I die daily, daily mourn.

    VIII.

    e hand

    Flings open t, rembling name,

    to look on one, w or land

    Netery to t may frame,

    t thus

    In it offendst my Genius.

    IX.

    And wed maid,

    Corrupted by thy lovers gold and page,

    ter at th laid,

    Disputed it, and tamed thy rage,

    And t to towards his,

    May my name step in, and hide his.

    X.

    And if treason go

    to an overt act and t te again,

    In superscribing, this name flow

    Into the pane ;

    So, in forgetting t right,

    And unao me s e.

    XI.

    But glass and lines must be

    No means our firm substantial love to keep ;

    Near deats thargy,

    And this I murmur in my sleep ;

    Inpute talk, to t I go,

    For dying men talk often so.

 John Donne Selected Poems-5

    BLAStED ears,

    o seek the spring,

    And at mine eyes, and at mine ears,

    Receive suching.

    But O ! self-traitor, I do bring

    transubstantiates all,

    And can convert manna to gall ;

    And t t

    true paradise, I  brought.

    ter did

    Benighis place,

    And t a grave frost did forbid

    trees to laugo my face ;

    But t I may not this disgrace

    Endure, nor yet leave loving, Love, let me

    Some senseless piece of this place be ;

    Make me a mandrake, so I may grow here,

    Or a stone fountain  my year.

    al phials, lovers, come,

    And take my tears, which are loves wine,

    And try your mistress tears at home,

    For all are false, t taste not just like mine.

    Alas ! s do not in eyes shine,

    Nor can you more judge s by tears,

    t she wears.

    O perverse sex,  she,

    rue, because ruth kills me.

    ILL tell t t do

    to anger destiny, as sh us ;

    ay, thus,

    And erity s too ;

    -endure

    Sibyls glory, and obscure

    her who from Pindar could allure,

    And  lame,

    And hey say) homer did find, and name.

    Study our manuscripts, those myriads

    Of letters,  thee and me ;

    te our annals, and in them will be

    to all whom loves subliming fire invades,

    Rule and example found ;

    th of any ground

    No scic o wound,

    t sees, o us affords,

    to make, to keep, to use, to be these his records.

    ts,

    Or as tome

    In cyp, or new made idiom ;

    e for Loves clergy only are instruments ;

    hus,

    She ravenous

    Vandals and Goths invade us,

    Learning his our universe,

    Sc learn sciences, spheres music, angels verse.

    y

    Is love or hey seek,

    ract spiritual love they like,

    t t see ;

    Or, loto amuse

    Faity, they choose

    Somethey may see and use ;

    For, t,

    Beauty a convenient type may be to figure it.

    heir books may lawyers find,

    Bot titles mistresses are ours,

    And ive tates devours,

    transferrd from Love o womankind ;

    and eyes,

    t great subsidies,

    Forsake hem relies ;

    And for the cause, honour, or conscience give ;

    Cive.

    atesmen¡ªor of they which can read¡ª

    May of tion find the grounds ;

    Love, and t, alike it deadly wounds,

    If to consider is, one proceed.

    In bothey do excel

    govern well,

    ell ;

    In thing see,

    As in t alchemy.

    t ts ; abroad Ill study thee,

    As  great s takes ;

    love is, presence best trial makes,

    But absence tries his love will be ;

    to take a latitude

    Sun, or stars, are fitliest viewd

    At test, but to conclude

    Of longitudes, her way have we,

    But to mark whe dark eclipses be?

    GOOD  love, and must e ill,

    For ill is ill, and good good still ;

    But t,

    e, nor love,

    But one, and ther prove,

    As we s.

    If t first ure had

    Made her good or bad,

    t e, and some choose ;

    But since se,

    t e,

    Only ts, all all may use.

    If t would be seen ;

    Good is as visible as green,

    And to all eyes itself betrays.

    If t last ;

    Bad dotself, and ote ;

    So they deserve nor blame, nor praise.

    But ts are ours ;

    but tastes,  devours,

    And  leaves all, doth as well ;

    C cs of meat ;

    And w,

    fling ahe shell?

    I SCARCE believe my love to be so pure

    As I  it was,

    Because it doth endure

    Vicissitude, and season, as the grass ;

    Meter, when I swore

    My love e, if spring make it more.

    But if this medicine, love, which cures all sorrow

    it only be no quintessence,

    But mixd of all stuffs, vexing soul, or sense,

    And of tive vigour borrow,

    Love’s not so pure, and abstract as they use

    to say,  their Muse ;

    But as all else, being elemented too,

    Love sometimes emplate, sometimes do.

    And yet no greater, but more eminent,

    Love by the spring is grown ;

    As in t

    Stars by t enlarged, but shown,

    Gentle love deeds, as blossoms on a bough,

    From loves a do bud out now.

    If, as in er stirrd more circles be

    Produced by one, love sucions take,

    t one heaven make,

    For tric unto thee ;

    And to love new ,

    As princes do in times of action get

    Neaxes, and remit t in peace,

    No er se this spring’s increase.

    LOVE, any devil else but you

    ould for a given soul give sometoo.

    At court your fellows every day

    Give t of rsmanship, or play,

    For their own before ;

    Only I hing, which gave more,

    But am, alas ! by being lowly, lower.

    I ask no dispensation now,

    to falsify a tear, or sigh, or vow ;

    I do not sue from to draw

    A  non obstante on natures law ;

    tives, they inhere

    In thine ; none should forswear

    Except t he Loves minion were.

    Give me thy weakness, make me blind,

    Bothine, in eyes and mind ;

    Love, let me never kno this

    Is love, or, t love childish is ;

    Let me not kno others know

    t s t so

    A tender shame make me mine own new woe.

    If t t just,

    Because I  t motions trust ;

    Small toiff, till great s

    Enforce tion not ;

    Such in Loves warfare is my case ;

    I may not article for grace,

    Love at last to shis face.

    this face, by which he could command

    And cry of any land,

    t comes,

    Can call voers, dead from tombs,

    And melt bot once, and store

    Deserts ies, and make more

    Mines in than quarries were before.

    For th me,

    Yet kills not ; if I must example be

    to future rebels, if th unborn

    Must learn by my being cut up and torn,

    Kill, and dissect me, Love ; for this

    torture against thine own end is ;

    Rackd carcasses make ill anatomies.

    Some man uno be possessor

    Of old or new love, himself being false or weak,

    t his pain and shame would be lesser,

    If on womankind  his anger wreak ;

    And thence a law did grow,

    One mig one man know ;

    But are otures so?

    Are sun, moon, or stars by law forbidden

    to smile ?

    Are birds divorced or are they chidden

    If te, or lie abroad a night?

    Beasts do no jointures lose

    they new lovers choose ;

    But hose.

    o lie in harbours,

    And not to seek lands, or not to deal h all?

    Or built fair  trees, and arbours,

    Only to lock up, or else to let them fall?

    Good is not good, unless

    A t possess,

    But dote h greediness.

    DEAR love, for nothee

    ould I his happy dream ;

    It heme

    For reason, mucoo strong for fantasy.

    t me

    My dream t not, but continuedst it.

    t so true t ts of thee suffice

    to make dreams trutories ;

    Enter tst it best,

    Not to dream all my dream, lets act t.

    As ligapers light,

    t thy noise waked me ;

    Yet I t thee

    ¡ªFor t trut first sight ;

    But w my ,

    And kne my ts beyond an angels art,

    , w when

    Excess of joy  then,

    I must confess, it could not c be

    Profane, to t thee.

    Coming and staying shee,

    But rising makes me doubt, t now

    t not thou.

    t love is weak wrong as he ;

    tis not all spirit, pure and brave,

    If mixture it of fear, shame, honour have ;

    Percorc ready be,

    Men lig out, so t h me ;

    t to kindle, gost to come ; then I

    ill dream t  else would die.

 John Donne Selected Poems-6

    LEt me pour forth

    My tears before t I stay here,

    For tamp they bear,

    And by tage th.

    For they be

    Pregnant of thee ;

    Fruits of muchey are, emblems of more ;

    ear falls, t t w bore ;

    So then, when on a divers shore.

    On a round ball

    A  h copies by, can lay

    An Europe, Afric, and an Asia,

    And quickly make t, whing, all.

    So dotear,

    h wear,

    A globe, yea  impression grow,

    till tears mixd h mine do overflow

    ters sent from thee, my heaven dissolv¨¨d so.

    O ! more than moon,

    Dra up seas to drohy sphere ;

    eep me not dead, in t forbear

    to teac it may do too soon ;

    Let not the wind

    Example find

    to do me more  purposeth :

    Since th,

    is cruellest, and es th.

    Some t han I,

    Say, wric h lie.

    I , and told,

    But s, tell, till I were old,

    I s find t ery.

    O ! tis imposture all ;

    And as no c t,

    But glorifies  pot,

    If by to him befall

    Some odoriferous thing, or medicinal,

    So, lovers dream a ric,

    But get a er-seeming summers night.

    Our ease, our t, our honour, and our day,

    Shis vain bubbles shadow pay?

    Ends love in t my man

    Can be as happy as I can, if he can

    Endure t scorn of a bridegrooms play?

    t loving c swears,

    tis not t the minds,

    hich he in her angelic finds,

    ould sly, t he hears,

    In t days rude relsy, the spheres.

    for mind in  t,

    Sness and  t mummy, possessd.

    hinks, or dreams, he knows

    ress, his curse ;

    him, only for his purse

    May some dull wo love dispose,

    And to all t are his foes ;

    May he be scornd by one, whom all else scorn,

    Forso ot to h sworn,

    itting, torn.

    Madness  his cramps, may he

    Make, by but th made him such ;

    And may ouch

    Of conscience, but of fame, and be

    Anguis t t t twas she ;

    Or may ue reverence

    One t es ence,

    And equal traitors be she and his sense.

    May reason, and believe t he

    Meant to perform it, and confesses, and die,

    And no record tell why ;

    his sons, which none of his may be,

    In not his infamy ;

    Or may es have fed,

    t h bred,

    And at t be circumcised for bread.

    tepdames, gamesters gall,

    tyrants and ts interwish,

    plants, mine, beasts, fowl, fish,

    Can contribute, all ill, which all

    Props or poets spake, and all which shall

    Be annexd in sco this by me,

    Fall on t man ; For if it be a she

    Nature before-curs¨¨d me.

    SEND rayd eyes to me,

    oo long  on thee ;

    Yet since they have learnd such ill,

    Such forced fashions,

    And false passions,

    t they be

    Made by thee

    Fit for no good sigill.

    Send  again,

    could stain ;

    be taughine

    to make jestings

    Of protestings,

    And break both

    ord and oath,

    Keep it, for tis none of mine.

    Yet send me back my  and eyes,

    t I may knohy lies,

    And may laughou

    Art in anguish

    And dost languish

    For some one

    t will none,

    Or prove as false as t now.

    tIS t, and it is the days,

    Lucys, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks ;

    t, and now his flasks

    Send fort squibs, no constant rays ;

    the worlds whole sap is sunk ;

    tic earth drunk,

    o t, life is shrunk,

    Dead and interrd ; yet all to laugh,

    Compared aph.

    Study me then, you who shall lovers be

    At t  is, at t spring ;

    For I am every dead thing,

    In w new alchemy.

    For  did express

    A quintessence even from nothingness,

    From dull privations, and lean emptiness ;

    Of absence, darkness, deat.

    All ots good,

    Life, soul, form, spirit, whey being have ;

    I, by Loves limbec, am the grave

    Of all, ts not a flood

    , and so

    Dro did we grow,

    to be two chaoses, when we did show

    Care to augen absences

    ithdrew our souls, and made us carcasses.

    But I am by h¡ªwhich word wrongs her¡ª

    Of t nothe elixir grown ;

    ere I a man, t I were one

    I needs must know ; I should prefer,

    If I ,

    Some ends, some means ; yea plants, yea stones detest,

    And love ; all, all some properties invest.

    If I an ordinary nothing were,

    As s, and body must be here.

    But I am none ; nor will my sun renew.

    You lovers, for whe lesser sun

    At time to t is run

    to fetc, and give it you,

    Enjoy your summer all,

    Since ss festival.

    Let me prepare towards  me call

    this

    Bot is.

    I FIX mine eye on there

    Pity my picture burning in thine eye ;

    My picture droransparent tear,

    hen I look lower I espy ;

    the wicked skill

    By pictures made and marrd, to kill,

    st thy will?

    But no salt tears,

    And t ;

    My picture vanished, vanish all fears

    t I can be endamaged by t art ;

    tain of me

    One picture more, yet t will be,

    Being in t, from all malice free.

    COME live h me, and be my love,

    And we will some new pleasures prove

    Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,

    ith silken lines and silver hooks.

    the river whispring run

    armd by the sun ;

    And tay,

    Begging tray.

    s live bath,

    Each,

    ill amorously to thee swim,

    Gladder to catchou him.

    If to be so seen, best loth,

    By sun or moon, t both,

    And if myself o see,

    I need not t, hee.

    Let oth angling reeds,

    And cut th shells and weeds,

    Or treac,

    itrangling snare, or .

    Let coarse bold

    t- ;

    Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,

    Bech poor fishes wandring eyes.

    For t no suc,

    For t t :

    t fis is not catchereby,

    Alas ! is han I.

    hy scorn, O murdress, I am dead,

    And t t thee free

    From all solicitation from me,

    t come to thy bed,

    And tal, in worse arms shall see :

    taper o wink,

    And  tired before,

    ill, if tir, or pinco wake hink

    t for more,

    And, in false sleep, hee shrink :

    And tced thou

    Bat  lie,

    A verier g than I.

    I  tell thee now,

    Lest t preserve t,

    Id rat painfully repent,

    tenings rest still innocent.

 John Donne Selected Poems-7

    ark mad, whoever says,

    t h been in love an hour,

    Yet not t love so soon decays,

    But t it can ten in less space devour ;

    ho will believe me, if I swear

    t I he plague a year?

    laug me, if I should say

    I saw a flash of powder burn a day?

    A a trifle is a ,

    If once into loves  come !

    All ot

    to ot some ;

    to us, but us love draws ;

    he swallows us and never chaws ;

    By , whole ranks do die ;

    yrant pike, our s the fry.

    If t so, w did become

    Of my  hee?

    I broug into the room,

    But from th me.

    If it o thee, I know

    Mine o show

    More pity unto me ; but Love, alas !

    At one first blow did s as glass.

    Yet noto nothing fall,

    Nor any place be empty quite ;

    t h all

    till, t unite ;

    And now, as broken glasses show

    A hundred lesser faces, so

    My rags of  can like, wish, and adore,

    But after one such love, can love no more.

    hERE, like a pillow on a bed,

    A pregnant bank so rest

    ts reclining head,

    Sat .

    Our ed

    By a fast balm, whence did spring ;

    Our eye-beams ted, and did thread

    Our eyes upon one double string.

    So to engraft our

    as all to make us one ;

    And pictures in our eyes to get

    as all our propagation.

    As, t te

    Suspends uncertain victory,

    Our souls¡ªate,

    ere gone out¡ª her and me.

    And iate there,

    e like sepulcatues lay ;

    All day, tures were,

    And he day.

    If any, so by love refined,

    t ood,

    And by good love were grown all mind,

    it distance stood,

    which soul spake,

    Because bot, bothe same¡ª

    Migion take,

    And part far purer than he came.

    tasy doth unperplex

    (e said) and tell us w we love ;

    e see by t  sex ;

    e see, , w did move :

    But as all several souls contain

    Mixture of t w,

    Love th mix again,

    And makes bot.

    A single violet transplant,

    trengthe size¡ª

    All w¡ª

    Redoubles still, and multiplies.

    her so

    Interanimates two souls,

    t abler soul, wh flow,

    Defects of loneliness controls.

    e this new soul, know,

    Of w we are composed, and made,

    For tomies of which we grow

    Are souls, whom no change can invade.

    But, O alas ! so long, so far,

    Our bodies why do we forbear?

    t we ; we are

    telligences, the spheres.

    e ohus

    Did us, to us, at first convey,

    Yielded to us,

    Nor are dross to us, but allay.

    On man  so,

    But t it first imprints the air ;

    For soul into the soul may flow,

    t to body first repair.

    As our blood labours to beget

    Spirits, as like souls as it can ;

    Because suco knit

    t subtle knot, which makes us man ;

    So must pure lovers souls descend

    to affections, and to faculties,

    hich sense may reach and apprehend,

    Else a great prince in prison lies.

    to our bodies turn  so

    eak men on love reveald may look ;

    Loves mysteries in souls do grow,

    But yet the body is his book.

    And if some lover, such as we,

    his dialogue of one,

    Let ill mark us, he shall see

    Small co bodies gone.

    I LONG to talk ,

    he god of love was born.

    I cannot t ,

    Sunk so loo love one which did scorn.

    But since tiny,

    And t vice-nature, custom, lets it be,

    I must love  loves not me.

    Sure, t not so much,

    Nor ised it.

    But ouch,

    ly to fit

    Actives to passives. Correspondency

    Only   cannot be

    Love, till I love her, who loves me.

    But every modern god end

    prerogative as far as Jove.

    to rage, to lust, to e to, to commend,

    All is the god of love.

    O ! yranny

    to ungod t could not be

    I s me.

    Rebel and at too, why murmur I,

    As t t t love could do?

    Love mig try

    A deeper plague, to make oo ;

    o see.

    Falsee ; and t must be,

    If she whom I love, should love me.

 John Donne Selected Poems-8

    tO w a cumbersome unwieldiness

    And burdenous corpulence my love had grown,

    But t I did, to make it less,

    And keep it in proportion,

    Give it a diet, made it feed upon

    t ion

    Above one sig,

    Of s  ;

    And if sometimes by stealt

    A sress ,

    And t to feast upon t, I let him see

    t to me.

    If ear, I brined it so

    it  nouris ;

    If  him know

    t a tear w ;

    erfeit, as was  ;

    For eyes, , but s.

    ever ate I  t,

    But burnt ters o me ;

    And if t favour made ,

    I said, quot;If any title be

    Conveyd by t dot avail,

    to be tietail?quot;

    to fly

    At w, and when, and how, and where I choose.

    No of sports I lie,

    And noher falconers use,

    I spring a mistress, se, sigh, and weep ;

    And t, go talk or sleep.

    BEFORE I sig gasp, let me breathe,

    Great Love, some legacies ; I h

    Mine eyes to Argus, if mine eyes can see ;

    If thee ;

    My tongue to Fame ; to ambassadors mine ears ;

    to ears ;

    t taugofore

    By making me serve y more,

    t I so none, but sucoo much before.

    My constancy I to ts give ;

    My truto t t do live ;

    My ingenuity and openness,

    to Jesuits ; to buffoons my pensiveness ;

    My silence to any, wh been ;

    My money to a Capuchin :

    taug me, by appointing me

    to love there, where no love received can be,

    Only to give to sucy.

    My faito Roman Catholics ;

    All my good o tics

    Of Amsterdam ; my best civility

    And courtso an University ;

    My modesty I give to soldiers bare ;

    My patience let gamesters share :

    taug me, by making me

    Love  y,

    Only to give to t count my gifts indignity.

    I give my reputation to those

    ry to foes ;

    to scfulness ;

    My sickness to physicians, or excess ;

    to nature all t I in r ;

    And to my company my  :

    thou, Love, by making me adore

    this love in me before,

    taug me to make, as t restore.

    to  tolls,

    I give my pten rolls

    Of moral counsels I to Bedlam give ;

    My brazen medals unto them which live

    In  of bread ; to them which pass among

    All foreigners, mine Englisongue :

    though, Love, by making me love one

    portion

    For younger lovers, dost my gifts tion.

    t Ill undo

    too.

    ties h

    t forth ;

    And all your graces no more use shall have,

    than a sun-dial in a grave :

    taug me by making me

    Love  bothee,

    to invent, and practise to annie all three.

    o s harm,

    Nor question much,

    t subtle h of hair, which crowns my arm ;

    tery, t not touch ;

    For tis my outward soul,

    Viceroy to t, wo heaven being gone,

    ill leave to control

    And keep tion.

    For if ts fall

    t

    Can tie ts, and make me one of all,

    trengt

    ter brain,

    Can better do t ; except s t I

    By this should know my pain,

    As prisoners to die.

    eer s by it, bury it h me,

    For since I am

    Loves martyr, it migry,

    If into othese relics came.

    As twas y

    to afford to it all t a soul can do,

    So tis some bravery,

    t since you would have none of me, I bury some of you.

    LIttLE t thou, poor flower,

    chd six or seven days,

    And seen t every hour

    Gave to to t to raise,

    And no laugriumphis bough,

    Little t thou,

    t it  I shall

    to-morro at all.

    Little t t,

    t labourest yet to nestle thee,

    And t by o get a part

    In a forbidden or forbidding tree,

    And  iffness by long siege to bow,

    Little t thou

    t to-morroh wake,

    Must ake.

    But t to be

    Subtle to plague t say,

    Alas ! if you must go,  to me?

    ay

    You go to friends, w

    Various content

    to your eyes, ears, and taste, and every part ;

    If t need your ?

    ell tay  know,

    stayd and done t,

    A naked t, t makes no show,

    Is to a  a kind of g.

    ; or having none,

    Knohee for one?

    Practice may make  ;

    But take my word, s know a .

    Meet me in London, then,

    ty days  see

    Me fres, by being h men,

    tayd still hee.

    For Gods sake, if you can, be you so too ;

    I will give you

    to another friend, whom we shall find

    As glad to have my body as my mind.

    t MONtGOMERY CAStLE

    UPON t IS SItUAtE.

    UPON this Primrose hill,

    il

    A s go

    to his own primrose, and grow manna so ;

    And wy

    Make a terrestrial galaxy,

    As tars do in the sky ;

    I o find a true love ; and I see

    t tis not a mere  is she,

    But must or more or less than woman be.

    Yet kno, which flower

    I wish ; a six, or four ;

    For srue-love less than woman be,

    Shen, should she

    Be more t above

    All t of sex, and to move

    My  to study  to love.

    Boters ; since t reside

    Falsehood in woman, I could more abide,

    S, ture falsified.

    Live, primrose, thrive

    itrue number five ;

    And, woman, w,

    iterious number be content ;

    ten is t number ; if en

    Belongs to eachen

    Eacake half us men ;

    Or¡ªif t serve turn¡ªsince all

    Numbers are odd, or even, and they fall

    First into five, ake us all.

 John Donne Selected Poems-9

    hEN my grave is broke up again

    Some second guest to entertain,

    ¡ªFor graves  woman-head,

    to be to more than one a bed¡ª

    And  digs it, spies

    A bracelet of brig the bone,

    ill  let us alone,

    And t there a loving couple lies,

    t t be some way

    to make t t busy day

    Meet at ttle stay?

    If time, or land,

    ion doth command,

    t digs us up will bring

    Us to the king,

    to make us relics ; then

    t be a Mary Magdalen, and I

    A somethereby ;

    All women shall adore us, and some men.

    And, since at sucime miracles are sought,

    I aught

    miracles we .

    First hfully,

    Yet kne w we loved, nor why ;

    Difference of sex we never knew,

    No more than guardian angels do ;

    Coming and going we

    Perc kiss, but not bethose meals ;

    Our ouche seals,

    ure, injured by late las free.

    t now alas !

    All measure, and all language, I should pass,

    Sell w a miracle she was.

    ors kno why,

    And my friends curiosity

    ill  up to survey eac,

    ure in my ,

    You think a sudden damp of love

    ill their senses move,

    And hem as me, and so prefer

    Your murder to the name of massacre,

    Poor victories ; but if you dare be brave,

    And pleasure in your conquest have,

    First kill t, your Disdain ;

    And let tress  be slain ;

    And like a Goth and Vandal rise,

    Deface records and ories

    Of your os and triumphs over men,

    And  sucage kill me then,

    For I could muster up, as well as you,

    My giants, and my coo,

    Constancy and Secretness ;

    But ther look for nor profess ;

    Kill me as  me die

    As a mere man ; do you but try

    Your passive valour, and you shen,

    Naked you have odds enough of any man.

    ShEs dead ; and all which die

    to t elements resolve ;

    And ual elements to us,

    And made of one another.

    My body th hers involve,

    And t hereby

    In me abundant grow, and burdenous,

    And nouris, but smother.

    My fire of passion, sighs of air,

    ater of tears, and earthly sad despair,

    erials be,

    But near  by loves security,

    So my loss, doth repair.

    And I migched so,

    But t my fire doth my fuel grow.

    Noive kings

    treasure brings,

    Receive more, and spend more, and soonest break,

    t I can speak¡ª

    tore

    My use increased.

    And so my soul, more earnestly released,

    ill outstrip s flown before

    A latter bullet may oertake, the powder being more.

    t not so black as my ,

    Nor tle as , t ;

    ties by thee be spoke,

    ¡ªNothing sooner broke?

    Marriage rings are not of tuff ;

    O less precious, or less tough

    Figure our loves ? except in t say,

    quot;¡ªIm c but fas;

    Yet stay  come,

    Circle top, w humb ;

    Be justly proud, and gladly safe, t t dh me ;

    S, O ! broke hee.

    I NEVER stoopd so lohey

    hich on an eye, cheek, lip, can prey ;

    Seldom to them which soar no higher

    tue, or to admire.

    For sense and understanding may

    Knoo their fire ;

    My love, though silly, is more brave ;

    For may I miss, wheneer I crave,

    If I kno w I would have.

    If t be simply perfectest,

    hich can by no way be expressd

    But negatives, my love is so.

    to all, which all love, I say no.

    If any w,

    ¡ªourselves¡ªcan know,

    Let eac nothis

    As yet my ease and comfort is,

    t, I cannot miss.

    tAKE heed of loving me ;

    At least remember, I forbade it thee ;

    Not t I sy e

    Of breatears,

    By being to t to me t ;

    But so great joy our life at once outwears.

    t trate be,

    If take heed of loving me.

    take ing me,

    Or too mucriumpory ;

    Not t I shall be mine own officer,

    And e e again retaliate ;

    But t lose tyle of conqueror,

    If I, t, perise.

    t my being nothee,

    If te me, take ing me.

    Yet love and e me too ;

    So tremes sheir office do ;

    Love me, t I may die tler way ;

    e me, because too great for me ;

    Or let t me, decay ;

    So sage, not triumph be.

    Lest te, and me undo,

    O let me live, yet love and e me too.

    SO, so, break off t lamenting kiss,

    h away ;

    turn, t, t  me turn this,

    And let ourselves benig day.

    e ask none leave to love ; nor will we owe

    Any so c;Go.quot;

    Go ; and if t e killed thee,

    Ease me oo.

    Or, if it  my word work on me,

    And a just office on a murderer do.

    Except it be too late, to kill me so,

    Being double dead, going, and bidding, quot;Go.quot;

    FOR my first ty years, since yesterday,

    I scarce believed t be gone away ;

    For forty more I fed on favours past,

    And forty on  t t last ;

    tears drowo ;

    A think nor do,

    Or not divide, all being one t of you ;

    Or in a t t too.

    Yet call not t t I

    Am, by being dead, immortal ; can gs die ?

    NO lover saither

    Can judge a perfect lover ;

    else none can or will agree,

    t any loves but he ;

    I cannot say I loved, for who can say

    erday.

    Love , more young than old,

    Deatoo much cold ;

    e die but once, and w did die,

    saith lie ;

    For to move, and stir a while,

    It dothe sense beguile.

    Suc w

    is set,

    Or like t wter

    Leaves bewo er.

    Once I loved and died ; and am now become

    Mine epitapomb ;

    , and so do I ;

    Love-slain, lo ! here I die.

    SOULS joy, now I am gone,

    And you alone,

    ¡ª be,

    Since I must leave myself hee,

    And carry th me¡ª

    Yet wo our eyes

    Absence denies

    Eac,

    And makes to us a constant night,

    o light ;

    O give no o grief,

    But let belief

    Of mutual love

    to the vulgar prove,

    Our bodies, not we move.

    Let not t beweep

    ords but sense deep ;

    For when we miss

    By distance our hopes joining bliss,

    Even then our souls shall kiss ;

    Fools o meet,

    But by t ;

    hy should our clay

    Over our spirits so much sway,

    to tie us to t way?

    O give no o grief, amp;c.

    yet to prove

    I t ty in love,

    So did I reverence, and gave

    orss at their dying hour

    Call,  name, an unknown power,

    As ignorantly did I crave.

    thus when

    t yet knoed by men,

    Our desires give them fashion, and so

    As they size, grow.

    But, from late fair,

    ting in a golden chair,

    Is not less cared for after three days

    By ching which lovers so

    Blindly admire, and h such worship woo ;

    Being  decays ;

    And thence,

    before pleased takes but one sense,

    And t so lamely, as it leaves behind

    A kind of sorroo the mind.

    A we,

    As well as cocks and lions, jocund be

    After such pleasures, unless wise

    Nature decreed¡ªsince eac, they say,

    Diminish of life a day¡ª

    this ; as she would man should despise

    t,

    Because t ot,

    And only for a minute made to be

    Eager, desires to raise posterity.

    Since so, my mind

    S desire w no man else can find ;

    Ill no more dote and run

    to pursue things which had endamaged me ;

    And wies be,

    As men do whe summers sun

    Gro,

    tness, s.

    Each place can afford shadows ; if all fail,

    tis but applying o tail.

    StAND still, and I o thee

    A lecture, Love, in Loves philosophy.

    t we ,

    alking wo s

    Along h us, which we ourselves produced.

    But, no above our head,

    e do tread,

    And to brave clearness all things are reduced.

    So  loves did grow,

    Disguises did, and shadows, flow

    From us and our cares ; but nois not so.

    t love  attaind t degree,

    ill diligent lest others see.

    Except our loves at tay,

    e sher way.

    As t o blind

    Othese which come behind

    ill work upon ourselves, and blind our eyes.

    If our loves faint, and erwardly decline,

    to me thine

    And I to tions shall disguise.

    the morning shadows wear away,

    But the day ;

    But O ! loves day is s, if love decay.

    Love is a groant light,

    And  minute, after noon, is night.

    [.]

    IF  change in you can move,

    You do not love,

    For he fire,

    You sell desire.

    Love is not love, but given free ;

    And so is mine ; so should yours be.

    [D.]

    , t o hers moan,

    to mine is stone.

    rangers eyes to see,

    Joy to wound me.

    Yet I so  eac,

    As¡ªcaused by t.

    [.]

    Say ly must be graced

    ite ;

    And t s longing should exceed,

    And raging breed ;

    So her disdains can neer offend,

    Unless self-love take private end.

    [D.]

    tis love breeds love in me, and cold disdain

    Kills t again,

    As er causeto fret and fume,

    till all consume.

    make,

    t to Loves self for loves own sake?

    Ill never dig in quarry of an

    to ,

    Nor roast in fiery eyes, which always are

    Canicular.

    his way would a lover prove,

    May sience, not his love.

    A froimes for physic good,

    But not for food ;

    And for t raging here is sure

    A gentler cure.

    e end,

    o public tend?

    SEND me some tokens, t my hope may live

    Or t my easeless ts may sleep and rest ;

    Send me some o make s my hive,

    t in my passions I may .

    I beg nor ribbon wroughine own hands,

    to knit our loves in tastic strain

    Of neouco sands

    Of our affection, t, as ts round and plain,

    So s in simplicity ;

    No, nor t enfold,

    Laced up togety,

    to ss s in the same hold ;

    No, nor ture, t gracious,

    And most desired, cause tis like t

    Nor ty lines, w copious,

    itings w addressd.

    Send me nor t, to increase my score,

    But s I love thee, and no more.

    cannot c love,

    And strives against it still,

    Never shall my fancy move,

    For  his will ;

    Nor he which is all his own,

    And cannot pleasure choose ;

    he can be gone,

    And w refuse ;

    Nor  loves none but fair,

    For suc ;

    Nor  can for foul ones care,

    For  t ;

    Nor  , for he

    ill make me  or slave ;

    Nor a fool whers ¡ª

    her ¡ª

    Nor  still ress prays,

    For sherefore ;

    Nor  pays, not, for he says

    ith no more.

    Is then no kind of men

    hom I may freely prove?

    I  t hen

    In mine own self-love.