Read "Confined Love" by John Donne online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Some man unworthy to be possessor / Of old or new love, himself being false or weak, / Thought his pain and shame would be lesser, / If on womankind he might his anger wreak; / And thence a law did grow, / One might but one man know; / But are other creatures so?
Are sun, moon, or stars by law forbidden / To smile where they list, or lend away their light? / Are birds divorced or are they chidden / If they leave their mate, or lie abroad a night? / Beasts do no jointures lose / Though they new lovers choose; / But we are made worse than those.
Whoe'er rigg'd fair ships to lie in harbours, / And not to seek lands, or not to deal with all? / Or built fair houses, set trees, and arbours, / Only to lock up, or else to let them fall? / Good is not good, unless / A thousand it possess, / But doth waste with greediness.