“Licence my roving hands, and let them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O, my America, my Newfoundland
My kingdom, safest when with one man mann'd,
My mine of precious stones, my empery;
How am I blest in thus discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds, is to be free;
Then, where my hand is set, my soul shall be.”

— John Donne , book Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going to Bed

No. 19, To His Mistress Going to Bed
Elegies
Source: The Complete English Poems

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John Donne 115

English poet 1572–1631

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