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National Poetry Month: One from Keats

By Glynn Young 5 Comments

April is National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada, and what better way to start the celebration with a poem from the Mother Country. Our goal is to post at least once a day during April with poems, articles, reviews and a couple of giveaways. (Note that I said goal; I didn’t say absolute commitment.)

To Some Ladies

By John Keats

What though while the wonders of nature exploring,
I cannot your light, mazy footsteps attend;
Nor listen to accents, that almost adoring,
Bless Cynthia’s face, the enthusiast’s friend:

Yet over the steep, whence the mountain stream rushes,
With you, kindest friends, in idea I rove;
Mark the clear tumbling crystal, its passionate gushes,
Its spray that the wild flower kindly bedews.

Why linger you so, the wild labyrinth strolling?
Why breathless, unable your bliss to declare?
Ah! you list to the nightingale’s tender condoling,
Responsive to sylphs, in the moon beamy air.

‘Tis morn, and the flowers with dew are yet drooping,
I see you are treading the verge of the sea:
And now! ah, I see it–you just now are stooping
To pick up the keep-sake intended for me.

If a cherub, on pinions of silver descending,
Had brought me a gem from the fret-work of heaven;
And smiles, with his star-cheering voice sweetly blending,
The blessings of Tighe had melodiously given;

It had not created a warmer emotion
Than the present, fair nymphs, I was blest with from you,
Than the shell, from the bright golden sands of the ocean
Which the emerald waves at your feet gladly threw.

For, indeed, ’tis a sweet and peculiar pleasure,
(And blissful is he who such happiness finds, )
To possess but a span of the hour of leisure,
In elegant, pure, and aerial minds.

From Poems 1817 by John Keats

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Glynn Young
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of the Civil War romance Brookhaven, as well as Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
Latest posts by Glynn Young (see all)
  • Poets and Poems: L.L. Barkat and “Beyond the Glass” - May 22, 2025
  • A History of Children’s Stories: “The Haunted Wood” by Sam Leith - May 20, 2025
  • World War II Had Its Poets, Too - May 15, 2025

Filed Under: John Keats, poetry

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Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    April 1, 2010 at 8:16 am

    I must admit I haven’t read Keats in years. This brought back memories.

    Here’s a link to my post on the poetry book giveaways:
    http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2010/04/poetry-book-give-away-for-national.html

    We can never have enough poetry in the world. Ever.

    Reply
  2. n davis rosback says

    April 1, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    i very much enjoyed the poem.

    Reply
  3. L. L. Barkat says

    April 1, 2010 at 6:15 pm

    “why linger you so?”

    I love that.

    Lingering is a love thing. Yes, yes.

    Reply
  4. Kathleen says

    April 6, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    I read this over, then over again many times – I finally felt it. Heard it. It took some doing, like an exercise. Forgive my shallow brain. I am going to google
    ‘sylphs’ and “Tighe”.

    Poetry muscle building is one exercise I like. I don’t mind having a chubby body or a fat heart (Ps/Proverbs) but, Lord save me from having a flubbery brain.
    [huffing] [puffing] [breathing heavy]

    Reply
  5. L.L. Barkat says

    April 6, 2010 at 8:41 pm

    Kathleen, you are so funny. 🙂

    Reply

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