Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/788

 JOHN KEATS

Fell her kirtle to her feet,

While she held the goblet sweet,

And Jove grew languid. Break the mesh

Of the Fancy's silken leash,

Quickly break her prison-string,

And such joys as these she'll bring.

Let the winged Fancy roam,

Pleasure never is at home.

Stanzas

IN a drear-nigh ted December, Too happy, happy tree, Thy branches ne'er remember

Their green felicity The north cannot undo them, With a sleety whistle through them; Nor frozen thawings glue them From budding at the prime.

In a drear-nighted December,

Too happy, happy brook, Thy bubblmgs ne'er remember

Apollo's summer look, But with a sweet forgetting, They stay their crystal fretting, Never, never petting

About the frozen time.

Ah! would 'twere so with many

A gentle girl and boyf But were there ever any

Writhed not at passed joy?

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