Endymion
By John Keats
This is the poem Marlena read
to Stephano
while he was staying at her
place in 1995.
She read it with a lot of emotion
and
almost cried afterwards.
A thing of beauty is a joy
forever;
Its loveliness increases; it
will never
Pass into nothingness; but
still will keep
A bower of quiet for us, and
a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health
and quiet breathing...
Therefore on every morrow,
are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to
the earth,
Spite of despondence of the
inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy
days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened
ways
Made for our searching: yes
in spite of all
Some shape of beauty moves
away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such
the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting
a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such
are daffodils
With the green world they live
in, and dear rills
That for themselves a cooling
covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the
mid forest brake
Rich with a sprinkling of fair
musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur
of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty
dead
All lovely tales that we have
heard or read-
An endless fountain of immortal
drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's
brink
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