< Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu
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JOHN KEATS

6$o. Bards of Passion and of Mirth

Written on the Blank Page before Beaumont and Fletcher s Tragi-Gomedy l The Pair Maid of the Inn '

"D ARDS of Passion and of Mirth,

  • -* Ye have left your souls on earth]

Have ye souls in heaven too, Doubled-lived in regions new ? Yes, and those of heaven commune With the spheres of sun and moon ; With the noise of fountains wondrous, And the parle of voices thund'rous ; With the whisper of heaven's trees And one another, in soft ease Seated on Elysian lawns Browsed by none but Dian's fawns ; Underneath large blue-bells tented, Where the daisies are rose-scented, And the rose herself has got Perfume which on earth is not ; Where the nightingale doth sing Not a senseless, tranced thing, But divine melodious truth ; Philosophic numbers smooth ; Tales and golden histories Of heaven and its mysteries.

Thus ye live on high, and then On the earth ye live again ; And the souls ye left behind you Teach us, here, the way to find you, Where your other souls are joying, Never slumber 'd, never cloying.

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