Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

John Keats (1795–1821)

Endymion (from Miscellaneous Poems)

HE was a Poet, sure a lover too,

Who stood on Latmus’ top, what time there blew

Soft breezes from the myrtle vale below,

And brought, in faintness solemn, sweet, and slow,

A hymn from Dian’s temple; while upswelling,

The incense went to her own starry dwelling.

But though her face was clear as infants’ eyes,

Though she stood smiling o’er the sacrifice,

The poet wept at her so piteous fate,

Wept that such beauty should be desolate.

So in fine wrath some golden sounds he won,

And gave meek Cynthia her Endymion.