John Donne - The Good-Morrow

I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? were we not wean'd till then?
But suck'd 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 mix'd equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.



Ever since I first read ths poem, it has continued to be one of my favorites. Donne presents a specific kind of love, one with partners who are equal and perfectly matched. This kind of love is immortal and more powerful than the deteriorating effects of time. In fact the time spent living without love is compared to our time as infants, or sleep. A semi/sub-conscious state where we aren't really alive. I feel the 'love' in this poem is almost obsessive where the only thing that matter to either of the two lovers is one another.

-Jackie