| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 12. A Hymne to Christ, at the Authors last going into Germany |
| By John Donne (1573–1631) |
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| IN what torne ship soever I embarke, | |
| That ship shall be my embleme of thy Arke; | |
| What sea soever swallow mee, that flood | |
| Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood; | |
| Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise | 5 |
| Thy face; yet through that maske I know those eyes, | |
| Which, though they turne away sometimes, | |
| They never will despise. | |
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| I sacrifice this Iland unto thee, | |
| And all whom I lov’d there, and who lov’d mee; | 10 |
| When I have put our seas twixt them and mee, | |
| Put thou thy sea betwixt my sinnes and thee. | |
| As the trees sap doth seeke the root below | |
| In winter, in my winter now I goe, | |
| Where none but thee, th’Eternall root | 15 |
| Of true Love I may know. | |
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| Nor thou nor thy religion dost controule, | |
| The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule, | |
| But thou would’st have that love thy selfe: As thou | |
| Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now, | 20 |
| That lov’st not, till from loving more, thou free | |
| My soule: Who ever gives, takes libertie: | |
| O, if thou car’st not whom I love | |
| Alas, thou lov’st not mee. | |
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| Seale then this bill of my Divorce to All, | 25 |
| On whom those fainter beames of love did fall; | |
| Marry those loves, which in youth scattered bee | |
| On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee. | |
| Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light: | |
| To see God only, I goe out of sight: | 30 |
| And to scape stormy dayes, I chuse | |
| An Everlasting night | |
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