Saturday, July 5, 2008

Sunday

BATTER MY HEART, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine and seeke to mend;
That I might rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to breake, blowe, burn and make mee new.
I, like a usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely I love you, and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee, untie, or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Not chast, except you ravish mee.

---from "Divine Poems" in The Complete Works and Selected Prose of John Donne, The Modern Library, 1952, p. 252

John Donne

America, Designed with Godly Intent, from Focus on the Family: David Barton gives a history lesson worth listening to that celebrates the spiritual heritage of America that the so many would have us forget, if we ever knew it in the first place.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read your blog with his poetry offering and it brought a work of John Donne Schwiebert wrote in Trout to Mind:

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

So you may have been drawn to Mr. Donne through mystic vibes. Pretty neat, yes?

Webutante said...

Yes, pretty wonderful. Hadn't heard the one above. Thank you.