Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/783

 JOHN KEATS

Ay, in the very temple of Delight

Vcil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,

Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine, His soul shall taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung.

636 Fragment of an Ode to Maia

(Written on May-Day, 1818)

MOTHER of Hermes' and still youthful Maia' May I sing to thee As thou wast hymned on the shores of Baia2 ?

Or may I woo thee In earlier Sicilian ? or thy smiles Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles, By bards who died content on pleasant sward,

Leaving great verse unto a little clan ? O give me their old vigour' and unheard Save of the quiet primrose, and the span

Of heaven, and few ears, Rounded by thee, my song should die away

Content as theirs, Rich in the simple worship of a day.

637 Bards of Passion and of Mirth Written on the Blank Page before Beaumont and Fletcher's

Tragi-Comedy 'The Fair Maid of the Inn* \ ARDS of Passion and of Mirth,

Ye have left your souls on earth' Have ye souls in heaven too, Double-lived in regions new? Yes, and those of heaven commune

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