John Donne: The Flea:

    Marke but this flea, and marke in this,
    How little that which thou deny'st me is;
    Me it suck'd first, and now sucks thee,
    And in this flea our two bloods mingled bee;
    Confesse it, this cannot be said
    A sinne, or shame, or losse of maidenhead,
      Yet this enjoyes before it wooe,
      And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two,
      And this, alas, is more than wee would doe.


    Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
    When we almost, nay more than maryed are.
    This flea is you and I, and this
    Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
    Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,
    And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet.
      Though use make thee apt to kill me,
      Let not to this, selfe murder added bee,
      And sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three.


    Cruell and sodaine, has thou since
    Purpled thy naile, in blood of innocence?
    In what could this flea guilty bee,
    Except in that drop which it suckt from thee?
    Yet thou triumph'st, and saist that thou
    Find'st not thyself, nor mee the weaker now;
      'Tis true, then learne how false, feares bee;
      Just so much honor, when thou yeeld'st to mee,
      Will wast, as this flea's death tooke life from thee.

--John Donne (1572-1631)

BBC Podcast: In Our Time with Melvin Bragg - The Metaphysical Poets

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