The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne, Volume 7, Part 1: The Holy Sonnets

6. [This is my Playes last scene,] HSScene

o my blacke Soule, nowe thou art summoned By sicknes, Deaths herauld and Champion, Thou like a pilgrimme which abroad had done Treason, and durst not turne from whence hee's fled; Or as a Theife, which till Deaths doome be read 5 Wisheth himselfe deliuered from prison, But damn'd, and hal'd to Execution Wisheth that still he might b' imprisoned. Yet grace yf thou repent, thou canst not lacke, But who shall giue thee that grace to beginne? 10 o make thy selfe with holy mourninge blacke, And red with blushinge as thou art with sinne; Or wash thee in Christs bloud, which hath this might, That being red, it dyes red soules to white. 6. This is my Playes last scene, here heav'ns appoint My Pilgrimages last mile, and my race Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace, My spans last inch, my minuts latest point, And gluttonous Death will instantly vnioynt 5 My body and my soule, and I shall sleepe a space, Or presently (I knowe not) see that face, Whose feare already shakes me euery ioynt. Then, as my soule to Heav'n (her first seate) taks flight, And earth..borne body in the Earth shall dwell 10 Soe fall my sinnes, that all may haue their right To where they are bred, and would presse me, to Hell. Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of euill, For thus I leaue the World, the flesh, and Deuill. ORIGINAL SEQUENCE 7 5· o my blacke Soule, nowe thou art summoned By sicknes, Deaths herauld and Champion, Thou like a pilgrimme which abroad had done Treason, and durst not turne from whence hee's fled; Or as a Theife, which till Deaths doome be read 5 Wisheth himselfe deliuered from prison, But damn'd, and hal'd to Execution Wisheth that still he might b' imprisoned. Yet grace yf thou repent, thou canst not lacke, But who shall giue thee that grace to beginne? 10 o make thy selfe with holy mourninge blacke, And red with blushinge as thou art with sinne; Or wash thee in Christs bloud, which hath this might, That being red, it dyes red soules to white. 6. This is my Playes last scene, here heav'ns appoint My Pilgrimages last mile, and my race Idly, yet quickly runne, hath this last pace, My spans last inch, my minuts latest point, And gluttonous Death will instantly vnioynt 5 My body and my soule, and I shall sleepe a space, Or presently (I knowe not) see that face, Whose feare already shakes me euery ioynt. Then, as my soule to Heav'n (her first seate) taks flight, And earth-borne body in the Earth shall dwell 10 Soe fall my sinnes, that all may haue their right To where they are bred, and would presse me, to Hell. Impute me righteous, thus purg'd of euill, For thus I leaue the World, the flesh, and Deuill. ORIGINAL SEQUENCE 7 ...