Poem A Day

Holy Sonnet IV: Oh My Black Soul! Now Art Thou Summoned

by John Donne

Oh my black soul! now art thou summoned

By sickness, death's herald, and champion;

Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath done

Treason, and durst not turn to whence he is fled;

Or like a thief, which till death's doom be read,

Wisheth himself delivered from prison,

But damned and haled to execution,

Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned.

Yet grace, if thou repent, thou canst not lack;

But who shall give thee that grace to begin?

Oh make thy self with holy mourning black,

And red with blushing, as thou art with sin;

Or wash thee in Christ's blood, which hath this might

That being red, it dyes red souls to white

Text and source

Rights
Public domain
Source
View original source

Poem A Day

One poem today. Another tomorrow.

Save this poem to your personal anthology and build a reading streak with a new classic each day.