The Paradox
The Paradox
Original Text
Donne, John. The Elegies and the Songs and Sonnets of John Donne. Edited by Helen Gardner. London: Oxford University Press, 1965: 38-39.
1No lover saith, I love, nor any other
2 Can judge a perfect lover;
3He thinks that else none can or will agree,
4 That any loves but he:
5I cannot say I lov’d, for who can say
6 He was kill'd yesterday?
7Love with excess of heat, more young than old,
8 Death kills with too much cold;
9We die but once, and who loved last did die,
10 He that saith twice, doth lie ;
11For though he seem to move, and stir a while,
12 It doth the sense beguile.
13Such life is like the light which bideth yet
14 When the life's light is set,
15Or like the heat which fire in solid matter
16 Leaves behind, two hours after.
17Once I lov’d and died; and am now become
18 Mine epitaph and tomb.
19Here dead men speak their last, and so do I;
20 Love-slain, lo, here I die.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
Form