A Valediction Forbidding Mourning - one interpretation

AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Verses 1 and 2 need to be looked at together. In Verse 1, Donne sets the scene - for his girlfriend/lover, from whom he is about to be parted. He doesn't want any fuss or nonsense when they part, and so he provides her with an example of how 'virtuous' men die (or depart). They don't moan and groan and tear their hair - they merely pass away so quietly that even their friends can't tell when the final moment comes.

In Verse 2, Donne applies this set-up to the circumstances in which he and his lady love find themselves. The emphasis should be on the word 'US'; '...so let US' be quiet about our parting (departure) because not only is that the virtuous thing to do, but to do otherwise would make our love and joy a common thing; if the uninitiated hear of our love and joy, that love and joy would become sullied and 'profane'.

Verses 3 and 4

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove
The thing which elemented it.

Donne expands on his theme of 'not making a fuss'. He compares earthquakes, and the fear and havoc they bring, with the movement of the planets - a much larger disruption, but one which passes unremarked.

He then elevates the love that he and his partner feel above the common, 'earthbound' love of others, who cannot bear to be apart because their love is based on sensation.