John Donne. “Holy Sonnet X”. From http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnewallpaper1.jpg (Received 4/18/2014). Inspired to share by The Urban Resident‘s Emerging Scholar Network Blog post Death and Resurrection (4/18/2014). To God be the glory!

Holy Sonnet X

John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so;
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better then thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.