Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/125

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 * 'Twas Bacchus and his kin!
 * Like to a moving vintage down they came,
 * Crown'd with green leaves, and faces all on flame;
 * All madly dancing through the pleasant valley,
 * To scare thee, Melancholy!
 * O then, O then, thou wast a simple name!
 * And I forgot thee, as the berried holly
 * By shepherds is forgotten, when in June,
 * Tall chestnuts keep away the sun and moon:—
 * I rush'd into the folly !


 * "Within his car, aloft, young Bacchus stood,
 * Trifling his ivy-dart, in dancing mood,
 * With sidelong laughing;
 * And little rills of crimson wine imbrued
 * His plump white arms, and shoulders, enough white
 * For Venus' pearly bite;
 * And near him rode Silenus on his ass,
 * Pelted with flowers as he on did pass
 * Tipsily quaffing.


 * "Whence came ye, merry Damsels! whence came ye,
 * So many, and so many, and such glee?
 * Why have ye left your bowers desolate,
 * Your lutes, and gentler fate?
 * 'We follow Bacchus! Bacchus on the wing,
 * A conquering!
 * Bacchus, young Bacchus! good or ill betide,
 * We dance before him thorough kingdoms wide:—
 * Come hither, lady fair, and joined be
 * To our wild minstrelsy!'