J Donne read by Classic Poetry Aloud:

http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

---------------------------------------------------

The Ecstasy

by John Donne (1572 – 1631)

Where, like a pillow on a bed,

A pregnant bank swell'd up, to rest

The violet's reclining head,

Sat we two, one another's best.

Our hands were firmly cemented

By a fast balm which thence did spring;

Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread

Our eyes upon one double string.

So to engraft our hands, as yet

Was all the means to make us one;

And pictures in our eyes to get

Was all our propagation.

As 'twixt two equal armies Fate

Suspends uncertain victory,

Our souls—which to advance their state

Were gone out—hung 'twixt her and me.

And whilst our souls negotiate there,

We like sepulchral statues lay;

All day the same our postures were,

And we said nothing, all the day.

First aired: 14 December 2007

For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.

Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2008