NOW That's What I Call Poetry! Volume 73

Remember those annoying compilations they release every year that contain all the latest and most annoying songs, most of which have already been licensed to car commercials? I'm going back into my Poetry's Greatest Hits collection to bring you the man, the myth.... 

A Hymn to God the Father

John Donne

                    I.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
    Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
    And do run still, though still I do deplore?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.


                    II.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
    Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
    A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.


                    III.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
    My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
    Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;
        And having done that, Thou hast done ;
                    I fear no more.




Especially for someone with my background as a missionary kid, aspiring intellectual, loner, all those things that either make you a) a candidate for the National Book Award or b) a school shooter - this poem has always really spoken to me. 


I especially love how he can mix the deadly earnestness of his prayer with stupid puns on his own last name. In fact, a lot of the poem's power comes from that specific comparison, of "being done" and "being Donne." It's also not especially hopeful, which has always paradoxically comforted me. I find all those kinds of uplifting optimistic exhortations to be insincere and manipulative. 


There's something to be said for letting someone just remain where they are for a while, in the dark place, without feeling the need to shine a little flashlight in their face. You've got to go through the very black night of the soul before you earn the sunrise.