Page:The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats, 1899.djvu/38

2 The transient pleasures as a vision seem,

And yet we think the greatest pain 's to die.

How strange it is that man on earth should roam,

And lead a life of woe, but not forsake

His rugged path; nor dare he view alone

His future doom, which is but to awake.

TO CHATTERTON

TO BYRON

'WOMAN! WHEN I BEHOLD THEE FLIPPANT, VAIN'

! when I behold thee flippant, vain,

Inconstant, childish, proud, and full of fancies;

Without that modest softening that enhances

The downcast eye, repentant of the pain

That its mild light creates to heal again:

E'en then, elate, my spirit leaps, and prances,

E'en then my soul with exultation dances

For that to love, so long, I've dormant lain:

But when I see thee meek, and kind, and tender,