Thursday, 3 October 2024

Each hath one, and is one

It's National Poetry Day! How about this one... As we used to say when I was studying for exams in school, "We done Donne!"

The Good-Morrow
By John Donne

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then?
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights 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 hath one, and is one.

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Sublime.

4 comments:

  1. National Poetry Day?!?!? Here's one for you....

    Sex is bad
    Sex is a sin
    Sins are forgiven
    So stick it in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! How about:

      I like to have a martini,
      Two at the very most.
      After three I'm under the table,
      after four I'm under my host.

      - Dorothy Parker

      Jx

      Delete
  2. People don't quote John Donne enough these days.
    You have and today was the day to do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was a remarkable and profound writer - and this poem was a joy to rediscover. Jx

      Delete

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