D

 

[D]

 

d. 1631 John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s London

subtle conceits and rugged rhythms recklessness

of style and harshness of metre he caused an urn

to be carved its quaint affectation, its appalling

 

earnestness recalls the very mind of the man himself

once seen, is not easily forgotten the long, gaunt

upright figure of a man, wrapped close in a shroud a face

wan, worn, almost ghastly, with the eyes closed as in death

 

d. 1889 J. B. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, writes further

though his ashes are mingled with western dust

looks towards Him whose name is the Orient

 

it speaks of a death, a resurrection, a saving as by fire

what penitence, what tears, what merits of his own could

wash out the stains which such a life as his was imbrued?

 

Found poem: ‘Donne, the poet-preacher’ by J. B. Lightfoot, in ‘Historical Essays’, Macmillan, 1895, pp. 221-245.