| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | The Dissolution |
| | | SHE’S dead; and all which die | |
| To their first elements resolve; | |
| And we were mutual elements to us, | |
| And made of one another. | |
| My body then doth hers involve, | 5 |
| And those things whereof I consist hereby | |
| In me abundant grow, and burdenous, | |
| And nourish not, but smother. | |
| My fire of passion, sighs of air, | |
| Water of tears, and earthy sad despair, | 10 |
| Which my materials be, | |
| But near 1 worn out by love’s security, | |
| She, to my loss, doth by her death repair. | |
| And I might live long wretched so, | |
| But that my fire doth with my fuel grow. | 15 |
| Now, as those active kings | |
| Whose foreign conquest treasure brings, | |
| Receive more, and spend more, and soonest break, | |
| This—which I am amazed that I can speak— | |
| This death, hath with my store | 20 |
| My use increased. | |
| And so my soul, more earnestly released, | |
| Will outstrip hers; as bullets flown before | |
| A later bullet may o’ertake, the powder being more. | |
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