Read "To Mr. Christopher Brooke: Thy Friend, whom Thy Deserts to Thee Enchain" by John Donne online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Thy friend, whom thy deserts to thee enchain, / Urged by this unexcusable occasion, / Thee and the saint of his affection / Leaving behind, doth of both wants complain. / And let the love I bear to both sustain / No blot nor maim by this division; / Strong is this love which ties our hearts in one, / And strong that love pursued with amorous pain. / But though besides thyself I leave behind / Heaven's liberal, and the thrice fair sun, / Going to where starved winter aye doth won, / Yet Love's hot fires, which martyr my sad mind, / Do send forth scalding sighs, which have the art / To melt all ice, but that which walls her heart.