| John Donne (1572–1631). The Poems of John Donne. 1896. | | | | Songs and Sonnets | | Community |
| | | GOOD we must love, and must hate ill, | |
| For ill is ill, and good good still; | |
| But there are 1 things indifferent, | |
| Which we may neither hate, nor love, | |
| But one, and then another prove, | 5 |
| As we shall find our fancy bent. | |
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| If then at first wise Nature had | |
| Made women either good or bad, | |
| Then some we might hate, and some choose; | |
| But since she did them so create, | 10 |
| That we may neither love, nor hate, | |
| Only this rests, all all 2 may use. | |
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| If they were good, it would be seen; | |
| Good is as visible as green, | |
| And to all eyes itself betrays, | 15 |
| If they were bad, they could not last; | |
| Bad doth itself and others waste; | |
| So they deserve nor blame, nor praise. | |
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| But they are ours as fruits are ours; | |
| He that but tastes, he that devours, | 20 |
| And he that leaves all, doth as well; | |
| Changed loves are but changed sorts of meat; | |
| And when he hath the kernel eat, | |
| Who doth not fling away the shell? | |
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