The poem by John Donne (1572–1631) that opens with the line "Sweetest love, I do not go" is entitled "Song." In order to understand the poet's idea of love as expressed in this work, it is important to know the meaning of certain words and phrases in the context of what they meant in Donne's time.
In the first stanza, it helps to know that the word "use" here means to become accustomed to, or "used to." "In jest" is another way of saying "by imitation." The first stanza describes a parting of the poet from his beloved. He does not go because he has grown tired of her or in hopes of finding someone "fitter" (better). This parting might as well be a way for the poet to get used to the final separation of death (a subject that comes up often in the thoughts of Donne and other writers of his time).
In the second stanza, Donne uses the symbol of the constancy (reliability) of the sun's daily journey across the heavens and reappearance after night time to explain that he, too, will hurry back in a way that the sun cannot, since his emotions (something the sun lacks) will drive him on. The "wings and spurs" the poet "takes" are metaphors for his passion or devotion.
In the third stanza, Donne laments the human limitation of powerlessness over time. In the fourth stanza, he tells his beloved that when she sighs (each sigh was then believed to use up a drop of blood) and weeps, he is hurt because she feels pain.
So far, we see that the poet's idea of love is that in loving, he experiences a parting that is practice for death and that when his loved one hurts, he feels what she is feeling. Donne describes the latter situation with the oxymoron "unkindly kind." In other words, her distress causes him to experience distress. We see that great empathy is part of Donne's idea of love.
In the fifth stanza, "divining" refers to the ancient practice of foreseeing the future through certain rituals; this implies a bit of superstition. The poet asks the beloved not to worry that bad things may happen ("Forethink me any ill"), for "Destiny may take thy part" and fulfill her fears. In other words, she should not tempt fate by worrying that something bad may happen to him. Instead, the beloved should think of him while parted as she would if they were asleep side by side. "They who one another keep / Alive, ne'er parted be" is a powerful concluding line. Nothing can ever truly part a pair whose love for each other is so strong it feels like it is their life's force.
To determine Donne’s idea of love in the poem, consider first how he explains to his lover his reason for leaving. It is not “For weariness of thee” or “in hope the world can show, A fitter love for me.” Instead, he notes that he must die and that he prefers “to use myself in jest.” Does this perhaps suggest that he feels love carries with it certain obligations or duties that go beyond his personal feelings for someone? Donne is reassuring in the second stanza, contrasting his love with the actions of the sun. He says that the sun set the previous day, but he has returned once again today. The sun has returned, even though it has “no desire nor sense,” in contrast to Donne, who has love. The point he is making should be clear if you bear this in mind when reading the second half of the third stanza, where he urges his lover to believe that he will make “speedier journeys” than the sun. Take a look at the fourth stanza and you will see how Donne discusses the brief, or even fleeting, character of human life and how men’s powers are weak. If he stays with his lover, his life blood will “decay” and she will sigh “my soul away.” This does not suggest a retention of love but rather a wasting away of human life. On the other hand, Donne goes on to lay out how he thinks love will be preserved if they part. In the final stanza, he concludes with an attempt to console, writing, “But think that we, Are but turned aside to sleep.” Here Donne is trying to convey again the sense of the parting being temporary, while love remains eternal. And he finishes this idea in the final two lines: “They who one another keep, Alive, ne’er parted be."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44128/song-sweetest-love-i-do-not-go
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