John Donne: Meditation XVII

"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine own were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
John Donne (1572-1631)

Donne was a great poet and became a devout Catholic. I am neither poet nor devout nor Catholic, but I read his poetry and, on occasion, meditate on his Meditation XVII. I love the English of Elizabethan, Stuart and Republican England, but for ease of reading the complete Meditation XVII is available in current English, go here.