"I rather thou shouldst painfully repent, Than by my threatenings rest still innocent." - John Donne
I don't have any idea if I know what this poem is actually saying, but the questions in the book helped a little. I'm going to do my best; I may be wrong, but I'll find that out later. The speaker seems to be imagining if he were to die. He would leave the earth and his lover would be alone. I think he wishes that if this were to happen she would mourn his death and not move on. He wishes that if he came back he would not see her in another man's arms. I think this is pretty selfish of the speaker. He basically wants her to live her life as if he were alive, but never get to see him. That's unfair to her. But it's a possibility he suspects that she is cheating on him, which is what brings about this wish to be a ghost in the first place. If that's the case, then he wants her to just confess and ask for forgiveness instead of him going through trouble to prove her unfaithfulness.
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