V. "I am a little world made cunningly." Divine Poems. Holy Sonnets. John Donne. 1896. The Poems of John Donne

John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896.

Divine Poems
Holy Sonnets

V. “I am a little world made cunningly”


I AM a little world made cunningly
Of elements, and an angelic sprite;
But black sin hath betray’d to endless night
My world’s both parts, and, O, both parts must die.
You which beyond that heaven which was most high	5
Have found new spheres, and of new land can write,
Pour new seas in my eyes, that so I might 1
Drown my world with my weeping earnestly,
Or wash it if it must be drown’d no more.
But, O, it must be burnt; alas! the fire	10
Of lust and envy burnt it heretofore,
And made it fouler; let their flames retire,
And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal
Of Thee and Thy house, which doth in eating heal.

Note 1. l. 7. 1669, he might [back]