Sweetest Love I Do Not Goe By John Donne

This poem has been written by John Donne when he was going to leave Germany. He addressed his beloved wife who was very sad.

He wants to make understand his wife that he is not going away because he is sick of hers or he is leaving her because he has found a more beautiful beloved than her. He argues that one day, he must die. Separation is like a brief death; so by separation, he will teach himself how to die. He compares his journey to the journey of the Sun. The sun went away the previous night and came back again in the morning but he will come back sooner because his journey is shorter unlike the sun he has incentive to come back he will fly back on the wings of love.

“O how feeble is mans power,

That if good fortune fall, Cannot adde another hour,

Nor a Lost hour recall.

But come bad chance,

And we joine to it our strength,

And we teach it art and length,

It selfie o’r us to advance.”

He says that mans power is very weak. He can neither retain happiness nor prolong it but when he sad, he increases his grief by crying and weeping. Again he tells his wife that if she truly loves him she should not weep and cry because when She sighs, she blows away her soul when decays his blood. If we imagine that some misfortune may overtake me, it might actually take place. He advises her to think that they are not separating but only going to sleep for some time. He assures her that lovers live in each other forever and so they can never be separated in their life.