"Morte, não te orgulhes,
embora alguns te provem;
Poderosa, temível, pois não és assim
Pobre morte: não poderás matar-me a mim
E os que presumes que derrubastes,
não morrem.
Se tuas imagens, sono e repouso, nos podem
Dar prazer, quem sabe mais nos dará? Enfim.
Descansar corpos, liberar almas, é ruim?
Por isso, cedo os melhores homens te escolhem.
És escrava do fado, de reis, do suicida;
Com guerras, veneno, doença hás de conviver;
Ópios e mágicas também têm seu poder
de fazer dormir.
E te inflas envaidecida?
Após curto sono,
acorda eterno o que jaz,
E a morte já não é;
morte, tu morrerás."
John Donne
Soneto Sacro 10
Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.
