Always Ready

I love the poetry of John Donne as it reflects so many of the sentiments that I have felt and do feel. Not only is his poetry beautiful, I would say on the level of Shakespeare, it is born out of a heart of true devotion to the Lord. This poem is the fifth in a series of sonnet-meditations, and it is one of my favorite Donne poems.

HOLY SONNETS.

V.

I am a little world made cunningly
Of elements, and an angelic sprite ;
But black sin hath betray’d to endless night
My world’s both parts, and, O, both parts must die.
You which beyond that heaven which was most high
Have found new spheres, and of new land can write,
Pour new seas in mine eyes, that so I might
Drown my world with my weeping earnestly,
Or wash it if it must be drown’d no more.
But O, it must be burnt ; alas ! the fire
Of lust and envy burnt it heretofore,
And made it fouler ; let their flames retire,
And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal
Of Thee and Thy house, which doth in eating heal.

-John Donne 1572-1631