"A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning" by John Donne:

John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning" is a poem written about a man who is explaining to his wife the state of their love and how it will be as he is preparing for a journey. The title illustrates a farewell to the speaker's wife forbidding her to be unhappy and mournful at his depart. Donne compares the leaving to death of a man, but not as unfavorable because his absence is only temporary: "As …

…that the couple's love resembles a mathematical compass: "As stiff twin compasses are two / Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show / To move, but doth, of th' other do" (26-28). The compass always makes a perfect circle. The circle, a universal sign for perfection denotes that as the man's travels come to an end, he will always return to his wife: "Thy firmness makes my circle just / And makes me end, where I begun"