| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Letters to Several Personages | | To M[r]. I. L. |
| | | OF that short roll of friends writ in my heart, | |
| Which with thy name begins, since their depart, | |
| Whether in th’ English provinces they be, | |
| Or drink of Po, Sequane, or Danuby, | |
| There’s none that sometime greets us not, and yet | 5 |
| Your Trent is Lethe; that past, us you forget. | |
| You do not duties of societies, | |
| If from th’ embrace of a loved wife you rise, | |
| View your fat beasts, stretch’d barns, and labour’d fields, | |
| Eat, play, ride, take all joys which all day yields, | 10 |
| And then again to your embracements go. | |
| Some hours on us your friends, and some bestow | |
| Upon your Muse, else both we shall repent; | |
| I that my love, she that her gifts on you are spent. | | | | |
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