Friday, February 22, 2008

Coming UnDonne

COMING UNDONNE--- Janis and John

Janis said--


‘Freedom’s just another word,

For nothing left to lose’.

But then she overdosed,

Her life the lived out blues.


Freedom isn’t sinning,

For when you linger there,

It’s only the beginning,

But you are unaware.


You find yourself trapped,

Like a man in a maize

Like a ship out to sea

Like an unquenchable blaze


Freedom’s not freedom

When it leaves you bound

Bound to succumb

Bound to fall down.


The pleasure’s momentary,

And there is no release,

You find yourself craving it,

But it gives you no peace.


Remorse and regret

And infinite sadness,

Downward spiral

Into the madness.

Donne was right when he said---

“Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you

As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend

Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,

Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.

Yet dearely' I love you,'and would be loved faine,

But am betroth'd unto your enemie:

Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;

Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I

Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.”

BW3 Feb. 21, 2008

6 comments:

Rob Penn said...

I love that poem.
A year or two ago, my schools Concert Choir performed a setting of that. I can't remember who the composer is, but if you like choral or classical music I can assure you that it's excellent.

It's also a really great and artistic understanding of Romans when Paul is talking about slavery to sin. That song was actually what popped into my mind as my campus ministry was studying that section. ^_^

Ben Witherington said...

Thanks for sharing this Rob. if you can figure out the composer of the musical piece I'd like to know.

BW3

Ray Fowler said...

Cool. A little Janis and John, a little Joplin and Donne, a little Batter My Heart and Bobby McGee all rolled up into one.

I also love the poem by Donne. I had my tenth grader memorize it as part of his English literature studies this year. And I would also be interested in learning more about the musical setting for the poem as well.

tvtv3 said...

A poem quoting John Donne. You don't see or read that very often. Donne is one of my favorite if not my all-time favorite poet. So much of what he wrote is relevant today. However, you have to think when reading done and many people would rather don't want to think. Thanks for sharing.

Rob Penn said...

In my neck of the woods, I would go out to say that the greater majority of people would rather not think.

And by "my neck of the woods," I mean the "Continental U.S."

Rob Penn said...

So, I looked into the choral setting of the poem. I'm pretty sure it was a guy named Richard Nance.

I may be wrong, though. Our director took a bit longer to recal than was comfortable. ^_^