Read "To Mr. Samuel Brooke" by John Donne online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
O Thou which to search out the secret parts / Of the India, or rather Paradise / Of knowledge, hast with courage and advice / Lately launch'd into the vast sea of arts; / Disdain not in thy constant travelling / To do as other voyagers, and make / Some turns into less creeks, and wisely take / Fresh water at the Heliconian spring. / I sing not, siren-like, to tempt, for I / Am harsh; nor as those schismatics with you, / Which draw all wits of good hope to their crew; / But seeing in you bright sparks of poetry, / I, though I brought no fuel, had desire / With these articulate blasts to blow the fire.