| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | The Damp |
| | | WHEN I am dead, and doctors know not why, | |
| And my friends’ curiosity | |
| Will have me cut up to survey each part, | |
| When 1 they shall find your picture in my heart, | |
| You think a sudden damp of love | 5 |
| Will thorough all their senses move, | |
| And work on them as me, and so prefer | |
| Your murder to the name of massacre, | |
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| Poor victories; but if you dare be brave, | |
| And pleasure in your conquest 2 have, | 10 |
| First kill th’ enormous giant, your Disdain; | |
| And let th’ enchantress Honour, next be slain; | |
| And like a Goth or Vandal rise, | |
| Deface records and histories | |
| Of your own arts and triumphs over men, | 15 |
| And without such advantage kill me then, | |
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| For I could muster up, as well as you, | |
| My giants, and my witches too, | |
| Which are vast Constancy and Secretness; | |
| But these I neither look for nor profess; | 20 |
| Kill me as woman, let me die | |
| As a mere man; do you but try | |
| Your passive valour, and you shall find then, | |
| Naked 3 you have odds enough of any man. | |
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