Read "Though I be Dead and Buried, Yet I Have" by John Donne online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Though I be dead and buried, yet I have / -Living in you-court enough in my grave. / As oft as there I think myself to be, / So many resurrections waken me. / That thankfulness, your favours have begot / In me, embalms me, that I do not rot. / This season, as 'tis Easter, as 'tis spring, / Must both to growth and to confession bring / My thoughts, disposed unto your influence; so / These verses bud, so these confessions grow. / First I confess I have to others lent / Your stock, and over-prodigally spent / Your treasure, for since I had never known / Virtue or beauty, but as they are grown / In you, I should not think or say they shine, / -So as I have-in any other mine. / Next I confess this my confession, / For 'tis some fault this much to touch upon / Your praise to you, where half rights seem too much, / And make your mind's sincere complexion blush. / Next I confess my impenitence, for I / Can scarce repent my first fault, since thereby / Remote low spirits, which shall ne'er read you, / May in less lessons find enough to do, / By studying copies, not originals.
Desunt Caetera.