You Ravish Me
Batter my heart, three personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend.
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn and make me new,
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labor to admit you, but, oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend;
But is captive and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you and would be loved fain;
But am betrothed unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
(John Donne, "Batter My Heart")
posted by Stephanie @ 8:56 PM
3 Comments:
I love the idea of poetry. But I can never really grasp poetry written in older English. So after reading this poem three times, I think I get it... but I have this sense that I don't; ohwell. John Donne was apparently a stellar dude who wrote a few great books which I hope to slog through one of these days. Where did you snag this one Steph, do you have a book of his or a collection of poetry?
I love poetry too! I wish I had a poetry book! I've heard Mr. Donne was freakin' cool, as well. Sometimes I get glimpses of revelation as to what this poem means and the next time I read it I feel like he's speaking a completely different language. It describes the reality of our struggle with devotion to God so well, though, and so much more...I got this one from reading the Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge. They quote a lot of different poets and such. Good book! Have you read it?
Now, hold on a minute, I didn't say I loved poetry. I love the idea of poetry! I think I would perhaps love poetry if I could understand it better. The Sacred Romance is on my to-do list for sure, along with hundreds of others. It's my life's ambition to quit at least one of my jobs so I can read more. ... and then hopefully do stuff better, because reading for the sake of reading is maybe not such a great idea.
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