The Flea

I stumbled upon this hilarious poem by John Donne that I had studied in English in CEGEP and I felt the compulsive need to share it. Ironically though, it kind of contradicts my previous post. Then again, I never agreed with the author, but I did find his arguments quite ingenious. So he gets brownie points for the cunning!

Overall, this poem is about a man who tries to convince his lover to sleep with him even though they are not married.

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;
It suck'd me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know'st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead;
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two;
And this, alas! is more than we would do.

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge, and you, we're met,
And cloister'd in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck'd from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and say'st that thou
Find'st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
'Tis true; then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honour, when thou yield'st to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.

Note: in the time that this poem was written (meaning the XVIth-XVIIth century) the letter "s" was written in a similar fashion to the letter "f". Now try to replace the "s" in the third line of the poem with "f" and see what that gives hahaha!