The Ecstasy
1573-1631
WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A pregnant bank swell'd up, to rest
The violet's reclining head,
Sat we two, one another's best.
Our hands were firmly cemented
By a fast balm which thence did spring;
Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread
Our eyes upon one double string.
So to engraft our hands, as yet
Was all the means to make us one;
And pictures in our eyes to get
Was all our propagation.
As 'twixt two equal armies Fate
Suspends uncertain victory,
Our souls--which to advance their state
Were gone out--hung 'twixt her and me.
And whilst our souls negotiate there,
We like sepulchral statues lay;
All day the same our postures were,
And we said nothing, all the day.
DayPoems Poem No. 199
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/199.html">The Ecstasy by John Donne</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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