John Donne (1572-1631)
A Jet Ring Sent
1 Thou art not so black as my heart,
2 Nor half so brittle as her heart, thou art ;
3What would'st thou say? shall both our properties by thee be spoke,
4 Nothing more endless, nothing sooner broke?
5 Marriage rings are not of this stuff;
6 Oh, why should ought less precious, or less tough
7Figure our loves? except in thy name thou have bid it say,
8 "I'm cheap, and nought but fashion, fling me away."
9 Yet stay with me since thou art come,
10 Circle this finger's top, which did’st her thumb.
11Be justly proud, and gladly safe, that thou dost dwell with me,
12She that, oh, broke her faith, would soon break thee.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Donne, John. The Elegies and the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne. Edited by Helen Gardner. London: Oxford University Press, 1965: 38.
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RP edition: 2009
Recent editing: 1:2009/7/2
Form: quatrains
Rhyme: aabb
Other poems by John Donne
