Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
A Hymn to ChristJohn Donne (15721631)
I
That ship shall be my emblem of thy ark;
What sea soever swallow me, that flood
Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood.
Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise
Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes,
Which, though they turn away sometimes,—
They never will despise.
And all whom I love here, and who love me:
When I have put this flood ’twixt them and me,
Put thou thy blood betwixt my sins and thee.
As the tree’s sap doth seek the root below
In winter, in my winter now I go
Where none but thee, the eternal root
Of true love, I may know.
The amorousness of an harmonious soul;
But thou wouldst have that love thyself: as thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now.
Thou lov’st not till from loving more thou free
My soul: who ever gives, takes liberty;
Oh! if thou car’st not whom I love,
Alas, thou lov’st not me!
On whom those fainter beams of love did fall;
Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be
On face, wit, hopes (false mistresses), to thee.
Churches are best for prayer that have least light;
To see God only, I go out of sight;
And to ’scape stormy days, I choose
An everlasting night.