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98
JOHN KEATS
“Watch intently Nature's gentle doings.”
Moods there may be that deem thee not enough
Valiantly virile: that no treasures find
Of rare refreshment to their critic mind
In those rich fancies spun from Nature's stuff
Unadulterate: nay as some boor, unmannered, gruff,
Strikes at the hedgerow flowers, or tramples down
The odorous fair grasses, so with surly frown
These meet thy enchantment by a dull rebuff.
Valiantly virile: that no treasures find
Of rare refreshment to their critic mind
In those rich fancies spun from Nature's stuff
Unadulterate: nay as some boor, unmannered, gruff,
Strikes at the hedgerow flowers, or tramples down
The odorous fair grasses, so with surly frown
These meet thy enchantment by a dull rebuff.
Yet when the coarse world jostles calm aside,
Or duties distasteful call to aching ears,
Or failure awaits on too assertive pride;
Then, then, dear Poet, most thy spirit lives!
How matchless then the allurement that one hears
In thy belov'd soft-voiced diminutives!
Or duties distasteful call to aching ears,
Or failure awaits on too assertive pride;
Then, then, dear Poet, most thy spirit lives!
How matchless then the allurement that one hears
In thy belov'd soft-voiced diminutives!
August 15th, 1920.
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