Witchcraft by a Picture

Witchcraft by a Picture

Original Text
Donne, John. The Elegies and the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne. Edited by Helen Gardner. London: Oxford University Press, 1965: 37.
1I fix mine eye on thine, and there
2    Pity my picture burning in thine eye,
3My picture drown'd in a transparent tear,
4    When I look lower I espy;
5        Hadst thou the wicked skill
6By pictures made and mard, to kill,
7How many ways mightst thou perform thy will?
8But now I've drunk thy sweet salt tears,
9    And though thou pour more, I'll depart;
10My picture vanish’d, vanish all fears,
11    That I can be endamag’d by that art ;
12        Though thou retain of me
13One picture more, yet that will be,
14Being in thine own heart, from all malice free.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
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