Song

Song
by John Donne (1572 - 1631)        

Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids' singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible go see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till Age snow white hairs on thee;
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.  

If thou find'st one, let me know;
Such a pilgrimage were sweet,
Yet do not; I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet.
Though she were true when you met her, 
And last till you write your letter
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two or three.

The bracelet pictured above is in Rose's collection of silver Viking Knit bracelets offered at the Studio Seven Art Gallery in Pleasanton, California. See Beadshaper at Studio Seven for details.