Sweetest love, I do not go - John Donne

 Sweetest love, I do not go - John Donne

Sweetest love, I do not go,

         For weariness of thee,

Nor in hope the world can show

         A fitter love for me;

                But since that I

Must die at last, 'tis best

To use myself in jest

         Thus by feign'd deaths to die.

Yesternight the sun went hence,

         And yet is here today;

He hath no desire nor sense,

         Nor half so short a way:

                Then fear not me,

But believe that I shall make

Speedier journeys, since I take

         More wings and spurs than he.

O how feeble is man's power,

         That if good fortune fall,

Cannot add another hour,

         Nor a lost hour recall!

                But come bad chance,

And we join to'it our strength,

And we teach it art and length,

         Itself o'er us to'advance.

When thou sigh'st, thou sigh'st not wind,

         But sigh'st my soul away;

When thou weep'st, unkindly kind,

         My life's blood doth decay.

                It cannot be

That thou lov'st me, as thou say'st,

If in thine my life thou waste,

         That art the best of me.

Let not thy divining heart

         Forethink me any ill;

Destiny may take thy part,

         And may thy fears fulfil;

                But think that we

Are but turn'd aside to sleep;

They who one another keep

         Alive, ne'er parted be.

The present poem of John Donne deals with the theme of love in which the lover addresses to his beloved. It is a poem about the lover’s emotion, when it is time for him to separate himself from his beloved, on account of his forth coming death. The lover is of the opinion that those who love truly can never be separated even by death.

The poem opens with the lover’s clarification that he is going away from her not because he is tired from her or he hopes to find a better person than his beloved. The only reason why he is going away from her is his death. The lover accepts his physical death as a fake death. His real death would take place only if he discontinues loving her.

The lover gives example of the sun. The Sun that went away the previous night has come back again though the sun has neither sense nor desire to come back. Compared to that he has both – sense and desire, so he would make his journey speedier than the sun and he will come back the next day.

The Lover comments on futility of human power saying that man cannot add even one hour more to his happy time. Man cannot bring back his happy days once they are gone. The lover is not afraid of his death and tells his beloved also not be afraid of his death.

The lover requests her not to sigh or weep because when she sighs it is not the air but his soul which comes out. When she weeps it is not the tears but his blood comes out. If she wastes his soul and blood like this, he would come to a conclusion that she does not love him as she claims.

The lover of this poem believes that her fear may come true and she may die after his death, but it would give them chance to remain side by side in their grave. So death would give them an opportunity to be together. It is a firm belief of the lover that those who love truly, they never apart.

The present poem is a good example of Donne’s metaphysical poetry. It employs images like “The Sun”, “Wings”, “Destiny” and “Divining Heart” giving a metaphysical touch to this poem.

Reference-

• https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44128
• Class notes (18/9/2015) by R.K.Mandaliya