Holy Sonnet IX: If Poisonous Minerals, And If That Tree

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



If poisonous minerals, and if that tree
Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,
If lecherous goats, if serpents envious
Cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?
Why should intent or reason, born in me,
Make sins, else equal, in me more heinous?
And Mercy being easy, and glorious
To God; in his stern wrath, why threatens he?
But who am I, that dare dispute with thee
O God? Oh! of thine only worthy blood,
And my tears, make a heavenly Lethean flood,
And drown in it my sin's black memory;
That thou remember them, some claim as debt,
I think it mercy, if thou wilt forget.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
186

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBAACCADD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 574
Words 111
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

All John Donne poems | John Donne Books

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