Poems 1817

by

JOHN KEATS

"What more felicity can fall to creature,
Than to enjoy delight with liberty."

Fate of the Butterfly —SPENSER

DEDICATION.

TO LEIGH HUNT, ESQ.

Glory and loveliness have passed away;
  For if we wander out in early morn,
  No wreathed incense do we see upborne
Into the east, to meet the smiling day:
No crowd of nymphs soft voic'd and young, and gay,
  In woven baskets bringing ears of corn,
  Roses, and pinks, and violets, to adorn
The shrine of Flora in her early May.
But there are left delights as high as these,
  And I shall ever bless my destiny,
That in a time, when under pleasant trees
  Pan is no longer sought, I feel a free
A leafy luxury, seeing I could please
  With these poor offerings, a man like thee.

[The Short Pieces in the middle of the Book, as well as some of the Sonnets,
were written at an earlier period than the rest of the Poems.]