Shadows of love

In 'A Lecture upon the Shadow', Donne's speaker tells his beloved to stand still, and he will read her a 'lecture' on love, drawn from their three-hour walk.

Earlier, as they walked, their shadows walked beside them. Now it is noon: the sun is straight overhead, and they tread their shadows under their feet. Everything is clear and bright.

The morning shadows, he says, were like the disguises of young love: the care they took to hide their love from others. Now their love is at its height, and needs no disguise.

But if love does not stay at its noon, new shadows will fall the other way, westward: deceits that blind the lovers to each other. And as the afternoon goes on, these shadows grow longer and longer.

So love must be a growing, or a full constant light. Its first minute after noon is night: once love begins to decline, it is over.