The Legacy

When I died last, and, dear, I die
As often as from thee I go,
Though it be but an hour ago
—And lovers' hours be full eternity—
I can remember yet, that I
Something did say, and something did bestow ;
Though I be dead, which sent me, I might be
Mine own executor, and legacy.

I heard me say, "Tell her anon,
That myself," that is you, not I,
" Did kill me," and when I felt me die,
I bid me send my heart, when I was gone ;
But I alas ! could there find none ;
When I had ripp'd, and search'd where hearts should lie,
It kill'd me again, that I who still was true
In life, in my last will should cozen you.

Yet I found something like a heart,
But colours it, and corners had ;
It was not good, it was not bad,
It was entire to none, and few had part ;
As good as could be made by art
It seem'd, and therefore for our loss be sad.
I meant to send that heart instead of mine,
But O ! no man could hold it, for 'twas thine.

There are three stanzas in this poem composed of eight lines each. Here Donne uses dazzling wordplay to describe a love affair that he had with a woman that left him. In the first stanza Donne is saying that this is not the first time that a love affair has gone wrong and that he feels bad about it (1-3). Then he tells her that he is not her victim and that he is not feeling bad because of her but only because he chose so (meaning that he is his own executor and cause of legacy 7-8). At the end of the second stanza Donne talks about himself looking for his wounded heart (6-7 ) but can‘t find one. In the third stanza Donne finds something like the heart he is looking for (1), however even if it is similar to a heart he describes it full of colors and corners (2). Donne then says that he would have preferred losing this other heart instead of his own (7). I think that this heart that he is referring to is his judgment and is the cause for this legacy of suffering.

http://books.google.it/books?id=QxBx1Bf1eogC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=The+legacy+john+donne+explanation&source=bl&ots=MuU3a15FDa&sig=ZvGHN3uspeFiB_JJDhHOe6F3GRo&hl=it&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result