John Donne's SONG

A mere 366 years ago this was first published. The humour and the tone are as accessible and telling as ever. I find it a great up-lifter. The form is handled with fantastic skill given the intimate, chatty mode of the piece. A gem.

SONG.
Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me, where all past years are,
Or who cleft the Devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'est born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear
No where
Lives a woman true, and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.

http://www.fredthread.net/blog

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• John Donne
• Song
• Jacobean poetry.
• Go and catch a fallling star

[HerAeolianHarp]

So well read! Faved, Fred. :) - E

[Caspar33]

@HerAeolianHarp Thanks E, very much so. Comments are so rare.

[hamiltonpaul73]

Thank you so much for this extraordinary performance. You have helped me to see Donne's poem with new eyes.

[Caspar33]

Great! Best wishes, Fred.

[keanghiero]

another great performance.

well done Fred.

5*

all the best

Kean

[loctia1]

you are such a pro at performance. i am so lucky to have met you, to be able to tell my story about auden and jeffers, i so knew you understood. love and blessings, hunter i'm very sentimental today