MADAME,

That I might make your Cabinet my tombe,

And for my fame which I love next my soule,

Next to my soule provide the happiest roome,

Admit to that place this last funerall Scrowle.

Others by Wills give Legacies, but I 5

Dying, of you doe beg a Legacie.

My fortune and my will this custome breake,

When we are senselesse grown to make stones speak,

Though no stone tell thee what I was, yet thou

In my graves inside see what thou art now: 10

Yet th'art not yet so good; till us death lay

To ripe and mellow there, w'are stubborne clay,

Parents make us earth, and soules dignifie

Vs to be glasse, here to grow gold we lie;

Whilst in our soules sinne bred and pampered is, 15

Our soules become worme-eaten Carkasses.

[Epitaph. _B_, _D_, _H40_, _H49_

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts · 第 184 / 371 题