Ok, rant over. In the documentary, Simon Schama talked to John Carey, author of the best book on Donne that I've read (John Donne : Life, Mind & Art), & Fiona Shaw read the poems. It sent me back to my books of Donne's poetry & I've been reading the Holy Sonnets & the religious poetry that Donne wrote in his later years after he became Dean of St Paul's. A Hymn to God the Father is one of my favourites. It's a serious poem about repentance & forgiveness but he can't resist the pun on his surname & the pun on Son/sun that is so reminiscent of the dazzling wordplay of the songs & sonnets.
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.