Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CAELIA: SONNETS: 14 by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643)

Poet Analysis

First Line: DIVINEST CAELIA, SEND NO MORE TO ASK
Last Line: I CANNOT TELL HIM, TILL I ASK OF YOU.
Subject(s): LOVE; ABSENCE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;

DIVINEST Cælia, send no more to ask
How I in absence do; your servant may
Be freed of that unnecessary task:
For you may know it by a shorter way.
I was a shadow when I went from you;
And shadows are from sickness ever free.
My heart you kept (a sad one, though a true)
And nought but memory went home with me.
Look in your breast, where now two hearts you have,
And see if they agree together there:
If mine want aid, be merciful and save,
And seek not for me any other where:
Should my physician question how I do,
I cannot tell him, till I ask of you.



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