English poem
To Mr. Thomas Woodward: At Once from Hence My Lines and I Depart
by John Donne
At once from hence my lines and I depart, I to my soft still walks, they to my heart, I to the nurse, they to the child of art.
Yet as a firm house, though the carpenter Perish, doth stand; as an ambassador Lies safe, howe’er his king be in danger;
So, though I languish, press’d with melancholy, My verse, the strict map of my misery, Shall live to see that, for whose want I die.
Therefore I envy them, and do repent, That from unhappy me, things happy are sent. Yet as a picture, or bare sacrament, Accept these lines, and if in them there be Merit of love, bestow that love on me.
More by John Donne
- To Mr. Rowland Woodward: Muse Not That by Thy Mind Thy Body Is Led
- To Mr. Rowland Woodward: Zealously My Muse Doth Salute All Thee
- To Mr. Samuel Brooke
- To Mr. Thomas Woodward: All Hail, Sweet Poet, More Full of More Strong Fire
- To Mr. Thomas Woodward: Haste Thee, Harsh Verse, as Fast as Thy Lame Measure
- To Mr. Thomas Woodward: Pregnant Again with th’ Old Twins, Hope and Fear
- To Mr. Tilman After He Had Taken Orders
- To Mrs. Magdalen Herbert