I Am a Little World Made Cunningly (Holy Sonnet V)

John Donne

I am a little world made cunningly

Of elements, and an angelic spright,

But black sin hath betrayed to endless night

My worlds both parts, and oh! both parts must die.

You, which beyond that heaven which was most high

Have found new spheres and of new lands can write,

Pour new seas in mine eyes, that so I might

Drown my world with my weeping earnestly,

Or wash it, if it must be drowned no more:

But oh! it must be burnt; alas the fire

Of lust and envy burnt it heretofore,

And made it fouler; Let their flames retire,

And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal

Of thee and thy house, which doth in eating heal.

This shows the effects of a forest fire some ten years on.

photographs (c) 2011 R Harrison