In what torn ship soever I embark, <br />That ship shall be my emblem of thy Ark; <br />What sea soever swallow me, that flood <br />Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood; <br />Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise <br />Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes, <br />Which, though they turn away sometimes, <br />They never will despise. <br /> <br />I sacrifice this Island unto thee, <br />And all whom I loved there, and who loved me; <br />When I have put our seas 'twixt them and me, <br />Put thou thy sea betwixt my sins and thee. <br />As the tree's sap doth seek the root below <br />In winter, in my winter now I go, <br />Where none but thee, th' Eternal root <br />Of true Love, I may know. <br /> <br />Nor thou nor thy religion dost control <br />The amorousness of an harmonious Soul, <br />But thou wouldst have that love thyself: as thou <br />Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now, <br />Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, Thou free <br />My soul: who ever gives, takes liberty: <br />O, if thou car'st not whom I love <br />Alas, thou lov'st not me. <br /> <br />Seal then this bill of my Divorce to All, <br />On whom those fainter beams of love did fall; <br />Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be <br />On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee. <br />Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light: <br />To see God only, I go out of sight: <br />And to 'scape stormy days, I choose <br />An Everlasting night.<br /><br />John Donne<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-hymn-to-christ-at-the-author-s-last-going-into/
