| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | The Blossom |
| | | LITTLE think’st thou, poor flower, | |
| Whom I’ve watch’d six or seven days, | |
| And seen thy birth, and seen what every hour | |
| Gave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise, | |
| And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough, | 5 |
| Little think’st thou, | |
| That it will freeze anon, and that I shall | |
| To-morrow find thee fallen, or not at all. | |
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| Little think’st thou, poor heart, | |
| That labourest 1 yet to nestle thee, | 10 |
| And think’st by hovering here to get a part | |
| In a forbidden or forbidding tree, | |
| And hopest her stiffness by long siege to bow, | |
| Little think’st thou, | |
| That thou to-morrow, ere that sun 2 doth wake, | 15 |
| Must with this sun and me a journey take. | |
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| But thou which lovest to be | |
| Subtle to plague thyself, wilt say, | |
| Alas! if you must go, what’s that to me? | |
| Here lies my business, and here I will stay; | 20 |
| You go to friends, whose love and means present | |
| Various content | |
| To your eyes, ears, and taste, and every part; | |
| If then your body go, what need your heart? | |
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| Well then, stay here; but know, | 25 |
| When thou hast stay’d and done thy most, | |
| A naked thinking heart, that makes no show, | |
| Is to a woman but a kind of ghost. | |
| How shall she know my heart; or having none, | |
| Know thee for one? | 30 |
| Practice may make her know some other part; | |
| But take my word, she doth not know a heart. | |
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| Meet me at London, then, | |
| Twenty days hence, and thou shalt see | |
| Me fresher, and more fat, by being with men, | 35 |
| Than if I had stay’d still with her and thee. | |
| For God’s sake, if you can, be you so too; | |
| I will give you | |
| There to another friend, whom we shall find | |
| As glad to have my body as my mind. | 40 |
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