| Herbert J.C. Grierson, ed. (1886–1960). Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the 17th C. 1921. |
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| John Donne |
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| 10. A Valediction: of weeping |
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| LET me powre forth | |
| My teares before thy face, whil'st I stay here, | |
| For thy face coines them, and thy stampe they beare, | |
| And by this Mintage they are something worth, | |
| For thus they bee | 5 |
| Pregnant of thee; | |
| Fruits of much griefe they are, emblemes of more, | |
| When a teare falls, that thou falst which it bore, | |
| So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore. | |
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| On a round ball | 10 |
| A workeman that hath copies by, can lay | |
| An Europe, Afrique, and an Asia, | |
| And quickly make that, which was nothing, All, | |
| So doth each teare, | |
| Which thee doth weare, | 15 |
| A globe, yea world by that impression grow, | |
| Till thy teares mixt with mine doe overflow | |
| This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolved so. | |
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| O more then Moone, | |
| Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare, | 20 |
| Weepe me not dead, in thine armes, but forbeare | |
| To teach the sea, what it may doe too soone; | |
| Let not the winde | |
| Example finde, | |
| To doe me more harme, then it purposeth; | 25 |
| Since thou and I sigh one anothers breath, | |
| Who e'r sighes most, is cruellest, and hasts the others death. | |
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