John Donne

John Donne, escritor e pensador dos séc.XVI/XVII, é reconhecido, principalmente, pelo seu texto "Nenhum homem é uma ilha", imortalizado por Hemingway em "Por quem os sinos dobram", mas, também foi o autor do curto poema abaixo reproduzido, que, penso, será bem acompanhado pela voz de Barbara Bonney, interpretando uma versão de "Ave Maria", composta por Franz Schubert.

Nativity a Christmas Poem

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,

Now leaves His well-belov'd imprisonment,

There He hath made Himself to His intent

Weak enough, now into the world to come;

But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?

Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,

Stars and wise men will travel to prevent

The effect of Herod's jealous general doom.

Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith's eyes, how He

Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?

Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,

That would have need to be pitied by thee?

Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,

With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.