Endymion: Book Iii Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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There are who lord it o'er their fellow men	A
With most prevailing tinsel who unpen	A
Their baaing vanities to browse away	B
The comfortable green and juicy hay	B
From human pastures or O torturing fact	C
Who through an idiot blink will see unpack'd	C
Fire branded foxes to sear up and singe	D
Our gold and ripe ear'd hopes With not one tinge	D
Of sanctuary splendour not a sight	E
Able to face an owl's they still are dight	E
By the blear eyed nations in empurpled vests	F
And crowns and turbans With unladen breasts	F
Save of blown self applause they proudly mount	E
To their spirit's perch their being's high account	E
Their tiptop nothings their dull skies their thrones	F
Amid the fierce intoxicating tones	F
Of trumpets shoutings and belabour'd drums	F
And sudden cannon Ah how all this hums	F
In wakeful ears like uproar past and gone	A
Like thunder clouds that spake to Babylon	A
And set those old Chaldeans to their tasks	F
Are then regalities all gilded masks	F
No there are throned seats unscalable	G
But by a patient wing a constant spell	G
Or by ethereal things that unconfin'd	E
Can make a ladder of the eternal wind	E
And poise about in cloudy thunder tents	F
To watch the abysm birth of elements	F
Aye 'bove the withering of old lipp'd Fate	E
A thousand Powers keep religious state	E
In water fiery realm and airy bourne	A
And silent as a consecrated urn	A
Hold sphery sessions for a season due	E
Yet few of these far majesties ah few	E
Have bared their operations to this globe	H
Few who with gorgeous pageantry enrobe	H
Our piece of heaven whose benevolence	F
Shakes hand with our own Ceres every sense	F
Filling with spiritual sweets to plenitude	E
As bees gorge full their cells And by the feud	E
'Twixt Nothing and Creation I here swear	I
Eterne Apollo that thy Sister fair	I
Is of all these the gentlier mightiest	E
When thy gold breath is misting in the west	E
She unobserved steals unto her throne	A
And there she sits most meek and most alone	A
As if she had not pomp subservient	E
As if thine eye high Poet was not bent	E
Towards her with the Muses in thine heart	E
As if the ministring stars kept not apart	E
Waiting for silver footed messages	F
O Moon the oldest shades 'mong oldest trees	F
Feel palpitations when thou lookest in	A
O Moon old boughs lisp forth a holier din	A
The while they feel thine airy fellowship	J
Thou dost bless every where with silver lip	J
Kissing dead things to life The sleeping kine	A
Couched in thy brightness dream of fields divine	A
Innumerable mountains rise and rise	F
Ambitious for the hallowing of thine eyes	F
And yet thy benediction passeth not	E
One obscure hiding place one little spot	E
Where pleasure may be sent the nested wren	A
Has thy fair face within its tranquil ken	A
And from beneath a sheltering ivy leaf	K
Takes glimpses of thee thou art a relief	K
To the poor patient oyster where it sleeps	F
Within its pearly house The mighty deeps	F
The monstrous sea is thine the myriad sea	F
O Moon far spooming Ocean bows to thee	F
And Tellus feels his forehead's cumbrous load	E
	-
Cynthia where art thou now What far abode	E
Of green or silvery bower doth enshrine	A
Such utmost beauty Alas thou dost pine	A
For one as sorrowful thy cheek is pale	G
For one whose cheek is pale thou dost bewail	G
His tears who weeps for thee Where dost thou sigh	L
Ah surely that light peeps from Vesper's eye	L
Or what a thing is love 'Tis She but lo	G
How chang'd how full of ache how gone in woe	G
She dies at the thinnest cloud her loveliness	F
Is wan on Neptune's blue yet there's a stress	F
Of love spangles just off yon cape of trees	F
Dancing upon the waves as if to please	F
The curly foam with amorous influence	F
O not so idle for down glancing thence	F
She fathoms eddies and runs wild about	E
O'erwhelming water courses scaring out	E
The thorny sharks from hiding holes and fright'ning	M
Their savage eyes with unaccustomed lightning	M
Where will the splendor be content to reach	N
O love how potent hast thou been to teach	N
Strange journeyings Wherever beauty dwells	F
In gulf or aerie mountains or deep dells	F
In light in gloom in star or blazing sun	A
Thou pointest out the way and straight 'tis won	A
Amid his toil thou gav'st Leander breath	O
Thou leddest Orpheus through the gleams of death	O
Thou madest Pluto bear thin element	E
And now O winged Chieftain thou hast sent	E
A moon beam to the deep deep water world	E
To find Endymion	A
	-
On gold sand impearl'd	E
With lily shells and pebbles milky white	E
Poor Cynthia greeted him and sooth'd her light	E
Against his pallid face he felt the charm	P
To breathlessness and suddenly a warm	Q
Of his heart's blood 'twas very sweet he stay'd	E
His wandering steps and half entranced laid	E
His head upon a tuft of straggling weeds	F
To taste the gentle moon and freshening beads	F
Lashed from the crystal roof by fishes' tails	F
And so he kept until the rosy veils	F
Mantling the east by Aurora's peering hand	E
Were lifted from the water's breast and fann'd	E
Into sweet air and sober'd morning came	R
Meekly through billows when like taper flame	R
Left sudden by a dallying breath of air	I
He rose in silence and once more 'gan fare	I
Along his fated way	B
	-
Far had he roam'd	E
With nothing save the hollow vast that foam'd	E
Above around and at his feet save things	F
More dead than Morpheus' imaginings	F
Old rusted anchors helmets breast plates large	S
Of gone sea warriors brazen beaks and targe	S
Rudders that for a hundred years had lost	E
The sway of human hand gold vase emboss'd	E
With long forgotten story and wherein	A
No reveller had ever dipp'd a chin	A
But those of Saturn's vintage mouldering scrolls	F
Writ in the tongue of heaven by those souls	F
Who first were on the earth and sculptures rude	E
In ponderous stone developing the mood	E
Of ancient Nox then skeletons of man	A
Of beast behemoth and leviathan	A
And elephant and eagle and huge jaw	S
Of nameless monster A cold leaden awe	T
These secrets struck into him and unless	F
Dian had chaced away that heaviness	F
He might have died but now with cheered feel	G
He onward kept wooing these thoughts to steal	G
About the labyrinth in his soul of love	U
	-
What is there in thee Moon that thou shouldst move	V
My heart so potently When yet a child	E
I oft have dried my tears when thou hast smil'd	E
Thou seem'dst my sister hand in hand we went	E
From eve to morn across the firmament	E
No apples would I gather from the tree	F
Till thou hadst cool'd their cheeks deliciously	F
No tumbling water ever spake romance	F
But when my eyes with thine thereon could dance	F
No woods were green enough no bower divine	A
Until thou liftedst up thine eyelids fine	A
In sowing time ne'er would I dibble take	W
Or drop a seed till thou wast wide awake	W
And in the summer tide of blossoming	M
No one but thee hath heard me blithly sing	M
And mesh my dewy flowers all the night	E
No melody was like a passing spright	E
If it went not to solemnize thy reign	A
Yes in my boyhood every joy and pain	A
By thee were fashion'd to the self same end	E
And as I grew in years still didst thou blend	E
With all my ardours thou wast the deep glen	A
Thou wast the mountain top the sage's pen	A
The poet's harp the voice of friends the sun	A
Thou wast the river thou wast glory won	A
Thou wast my clarion's blast thou wast my steed	E
My goblet full of wine my topmost deed	E
Thou wast the charm of women lovely Moon	A
O what a wild and harmonized tune	A
My spirit struck from all the beautiful	G
On some bright essence could I lean and lull	G
Myself to immortality I prest	E
Nature's soft pillow in a wakeful rest	E
But gentle Orb there came a nearer bliss	F
My strange love came Felicity's abyss	F
She came and thou didst fade and fade away	B
Yet not entirely no thy starry sway	B
Has been an under passion to this hour	X
Now I begin to feel thine orby power	X
Is coming fresh upon me O be kind	E
Keep back thine influence and do not blind	E
My sovereign vision Dearest love forgive	Y
That I can think away from thee and live	Z
Pardon me airy planet that I prize	F
One thought beyond thine argent luxuries	F
How far beyond At this a surpris'd start	E
Frosted the springing verdure of his heart	E
For as he lifted up his eyes to swear	I
How his own goddess was past all things fair	I
He saw far in the concave green of the sea	F
An old man sitting calm and peacefully	F
Upon a weeded rock this old man sat	E
And his white hair was awful and a mat	E
Of weeds were cold beneath his cold thin feet	E
And ample as the largest winding sheet	E
A cloak of blue wrapp'd up his aged bones	F
O'erwrought with symbols by the deepest groans	F
Of ambitious magic every ocean form	Q
Was woven in with black distinctness storm	Q
And calm and whispering and hideous roar	A2
Were emblem'd in the woof with every shape	B2
That skims or dives or sleeps 'twixt cape and cape	B2
The gulphing whale was like a dot in the spell	G
Yet look upon it and 'twould size and swell	G
To its huge self and the minutest fish	C2
Would pass the very hardest gazer's wish	C2
And show his little eye's anatomy	F
Then there was pictur'd the regality	E
Of Neptune and the sea nymphs round his state	E
In beauteous vassalage look up and wait	E
Beside this old man lay a pearly wand	E
And in his lap a book the which he conn'd	E
So stedfastly that the new denizen	A
Had time to keep him in amazed ken	A
To mark these shadowings and stand in awe	T
	-
The old man rais'd his hoary head and saw	F
The wilder'd stranger seeming not to see	F
His features were so lifeless Suddenly	F
He woke as from a trance his snow white brows	F
Went arching up and like two magic ploughs	F
Furrow'd deep wrinkles in his forehead large	S
Which kept as fixedly as rocky marge	S
Till round his wither'd lips had gone a smile	G
Then up he rose like one whose tedious toil	G
Had watch'd for years in forlorn hermitage	S
Who had not from mid life to utmost age	S
Eas'd in one accent his o'er burden'd soul	G
Even to the trees He rose he grasp'd his stole	G
With convuls'd clenches waving it abroad	E
And in a voice of solemn joy that aw'd	E
Echo into oblivion he said	E
	-
Thou art the man Now shall I lay my head	E
In peace upon my watery pillow now	A
Sleep will come smoothly to my weary brow	A
O Jove I shall be young again be young	D2
O shell borne Neptune I am pierc'd and stung	D2
With new born life What shall I do Where go	G
When I have cast this serpent skin of woe	G
I'll swim to the syrens and one moment listen	A
Their melodies and see their long hair glisten	A
Anon upon that giant's arm I'll be	F
That writhes about the roots of Sicily	F
To northern seas I'll in a twinkling sail	G
And mount upon the snortings of a whale	G
To some black cloud thence down I'll madly sweep	E2
On forked lightning to the deepest deep	E2
Where through some sucking pool I will be hurl'd	E
With rapture to the other side of the world	E
O I am full of gladness Sisters three	F
I bow full hearted to your old decree	F
Yes every god be thank'd and power benign	A
For I no more shall wither droop and pine	A
Thou art the man Endymion started back	F2
Dismay'd and like a wretch from whom the rack	F2
Tortures hot breath and speech of agony	F
Mutter'd What lonely death am I to die	E
In this cold region Will he let me freeze	F
And float my brittle limbs o'er polar seas	F
Or will he touch me with his searing hand	E
And leave a black memorial on the sand	E
Or tear me piece meal with a bony saw	F
And keep me as a chosen food to draw	F
His magian fish through hated fire and flame	R
O misery of hell resistless tame	R
Am I to be burnt up No I will shout	E
Until the gods through heaven's blue look out	E
O Tartarus but some few days agone	F
Her soft arms were entwining me and on	F
Her voice I hung like fruit among green leaves	F
Her lips were all my own and ah ripe sheaves	F
Of happiness ye on the stubble droop	G2
But never may be garner'd I must stoop	G2
My head and kiss death's foot Love love farewel	G
Is there no hope from thee This horrid spell	G
Would melt at thy sweet breath By Dian's hind	E
Feeding from her white fingers on the wind	E
I see thy streaming hair and now by Pan	F
I care not for this old mysterious man	F
	-
He spake and walking to that aged form	Q
Look'd high defiance Lo his heart 'gan warm	Q
With pity for the grey hair'd creature wept	E
Had he then wrong'd a heart where sorrow kept	E
Had he though blindly contumelious brought	E
Rheum to kind eyes a sting to human thought	E
Convulsion to a mouth of many years	F
He had in truth and he was ripe for tears	F
The penitent shower fell as down he knelt	E
Before that care worn sage who trembling felt	E
About his large dark locks and faultering spake	W
	-
Arise good youth for sacred Phoebus' sake	W
I know thine inmost bosom and I feel	G
A very brother's yearning for thee steal	G
Into mine own for why thou openest	E
The prison gates that have so long opprest	E
My weary watching Though thou know'st it not	E
Thou art commission'd to this fated spot	E
For great enfranchisement O weep no more	A2
I am a friend to love to loves of yore	A2
Aye hadst thou never lov'd an unknown power	X
I had been grieving at this joyous hour	X
But even now most miserable old	E
I saw thee and my blood no longer cold	E
Gave mighty pulses in this tottering case	F
Grew a new heart which at this moment plays	F
As dancingly as thine Be not afraid	E
For thou shalt hear this secret all display'd	E
Now as we speed towards our joyous task	H2
	-
So saying this young soul in age's mask	H2
Went forward with the Carian side by side	E
Resuming quickly thus while ocean's tide	E
Hung swollen at their backs and jewel'd sands	F
Took silently their foot prints My soul stands	F
Now past the midway from mortality	E
And so I can prepare without a sigh	E
To tell thee briefly all my joy and pain	F
I was a fisher once upon this main	F
And my boat danc'd in every creek and bay	B
Rough billows were my home by night and day	B
The sea gulls not more constant for I had	E
No housing from the storm and tempests mad	E
But hollow rocks and they were palaces	F
Of silent happiness of slumberous ease	F
Long years of misery have told me so	G
Aye thus it was one thousand years ago	G
One thousand years Is it then possible	G
To look so plainly through them to dispel	G
A thousand years with backward glance sublime	I2
To breathe away as 'twere all scummy slime	I2
From off a crystal pool to see its deep	E2
And one's own image from the bottom peep	E2
Yes now I am no longer wretched thrall	G
My long captivity and moanings all	G
Are but a slime a thin pervading scum	J2
The which I breathe away and thronging come	J2
Like things of yesterday my youthful pleasures	F
	-
I touch'd no lute I sang not trod no measures	F
I was a lonely youth on desert shores	F
My sports were lonely 'mid continuous roars	F
And craggy isles and sea mew's plaintive cry	E
Plaining discrepant between sea and sky	E
Dolphins were still my playmates shapes unseen	F
Would let me feel their scales of gold and green	F
Nor be my desolation and full oft	E
When a dread waterspout had rear'd aloft	E
Its hungry hugeness seeming ready ripe	K2
To burst with hoarsest thunderings and wipe	K2
My life away like a vast sponge of fate	E
Some friendly monster pitying my sad state	E
Has dived to its foundations gulph'd it down	F
And left me tossing safely But the crown	F
Of all my life was utmost quietude	E
More did I love to lie in cavern rude	E
Keeping in wait whole days for Neptune's voice	F
And if it came at last hark and rejoice	F
There blush'd no summer eve but I would steer	L2
My skiff along green shelving coasts to hear	M2
The shepherd's pipe come clear from aery steep	E2
Mingled with ceaseless bleatings of his sheep	E2
And never was a day of summer shine	F
But I beheld its birth upon the brine	F
For I would watch all night to see unfold	E
Heaven's gates and Aethon snort his morning gold	E
Wide o'er the swelling streams and constantly	E
At brim of day tide on some grassy lea	E
My nets would be spread out and I at rest	E
The poor folk of the sea country I blest	E
With daily boon of fish most delicate	E
They knew not whence this bounty and elate	E
Would strew sweet flowers on a sterile beach	N
	-
Why was I not contented Wherefore reach	N
At things which but for thee O Latmian	F
Had been my dreary death Fool I began	F
To feel distemper'd longings to desire	X
The utmost privilege that ocean's sire	X
Could grant in benediction to be free	E
Of all his kingdom Long in misery	E
I wasted ere in one extremest fit	E
I plung'd for life or death To interknit	E
One's senses with so dense a breathing stuff	N2
Might seem a work of pain so not enough	N2
Can I admire how crystal smooth it felt	E
And buoyant round my limbs At first I dwelt	E
Whole days and days in sheer astonishment	E
Forgetful utterly of self intent	E
Moving but with the mighty ebb and flow	G
Then like a new fledg'd bird that first doth shew	E
His spreaded feathers to the morrow chill	G
I tried in fear the pinions of my will	G
'Twas freedom and at once I visited	E
The ceaseless wonders of this ocean bed	E
No need to tell thee of them for I see	E
That thou hast been a witness it must be	E
For these I know thou canst not feel a drouth	O
By the melancholy corners of that mouth	O
So I will in my story straightway pass	F
To more immediate matter Woe alas	F
That love should be my bane Ah Scylla fair	I
Why did poor Glaucus ever ever dare	I
To sue thee to his heart Kind stranger youth	O
I lov'd her to the very white of truth	O
And she would not conceive it Timid thing	M
She fled me swift as sea bird on the wing	M
Round every isle and point and promontory	I
From where large Hercules wound up his story	I
Far as Egyptian Nile My passion grew	I
The more the more I saw her dainty hue	I
Gleam delicately through the azure clear	I
Until 'twas too fierce agony to bear	I
And in that agony across my grief	K
It flash'd that Circe might find some relief	K
Cruel enchantress So above the water	I
I rear'd my head and look'd for Phoebus' daughter	I
Aeaea's isle was wondering at the moon	F
It seem'd to whirl around me and a swoon	F
Left me dead drifting to that fatal power	I
	-
When I awoke 'twas in a twilight bower	I
Just when the light of morn with hum of bees	F
Stole through its verdurous matting of fresh trees	F
How sweet and sweeter for I heard a lyre	I
And over it a sighing voice expire	I
It ceased I caught light footsteps and anon	F
The fairest face that morn e'er look'd upon	F
Push'd through a screen of roses Starry Jove	K
With tears and smiles and honey words she wove	K
A net whose thraldom was more bliss than all	G
The range of flower'd Elysium Thus did fall	G
The dew of her rich speech Ah Art awake	W
O let me hear thee speak for Cupid's sake	W
I am so oppress'd with joy Why I have shed	E
An urn of tears as though thou wert cold dead	E
And now I find thee living I will pour	I
From these devoted eyes their silver store	I
Until exhausted of the latest drop	O2
So it will pleasure thee and force thee stop	O2
Here that I too may live but if beyond	E
Such cool and sorrowful offerings thou art fond	E
Of soothing warmth of dalliance supreme	P2
If thou art ripe to taste a long love dream	P2
If smiles if dimples tongues for ardour mute	E
Hang in thy vision like a tempting fruit	E
O let me pluck it for thee Thus she link'd	E
Her charming syllables till indistinct	E
Their music came to my o'er sweeten'd soul	G
And then she hover'd over me and stole	G
So near that if no nearer it had been	F
This furrow'd visage thou hadst never seen	F
	-
Young man of Latmos thus particular	I
Am I that thou may'st plainly see how far	I
This fierce temptation went and thou may'st not	E
Exclaim How then was Scylla quite forgot	E
	-
Who could resist Who in this universe	F
She did so breathe ambrosia so immerse	F
My fine existence in a golden clime	P2
She took me like a child of suckling time	P2
And cradled me in roses Thus condemn'd	E
The current of my former life was stemm'd	E
And to this arbitrary queen of sense	F
I bow'd a tranced vassal nor would thence	F
Have mov'd even though Amphion's harp had woo'd	E
Me back to Scylla o'er the billows rude	E
For as Apollo each eve doth devise	F
A new appareling for western skies	F
So every eve nay every spendthrift hour	I
Shed balmy consciousness within that bower	I
And I was free of haunts umbrageous	F
Could wander in the mazy forest house	F
Of squirrels foxes shy and antler'd deer	I
And birds from coverts innermost and drear	I
Warbling for very joy mellifluous sorrow	I
To me new born delights	F
	-
Now let me borrow	I
For moments few a temperament as stern	F
As Pluto's sceptre that my words not burn	F
These uttering lips while I in calm speech tell	G
How specious heaven was changed to real hell	G
	-
One morn she left me sleeping half awake	W
I sought for her smooth arms and lips to slake	W
My greedy thirst with nectarous camel draughts	F
But she was gone Whereat the barbed shafts	F
Of disappointment stuck in me so sore	I
That out I ran and search'd the forest o'er	I
Wandering about in pine and cedar gloom	P2
Damp awe assail'd me for there 'gan to boom	P2
A sound of moan an agony of sound	E
Sepulchral from the distance all around	E
Then came a conquering earth thunder and rumbled	E
That fierce complain to silence while I stumbled	E
Down a precipitous path as if impell'd	E
I came to a dark valley Groanings swell'd	E
Poisonous about my ears and louder grew	I
The nearer I approach'd a flame's gaunt blue	I
That glar'd before me through a thorny brake	W
This fire like the eye of gordian snake	W
Bewitch'd me towards and I soon was near	I
A sight too fearful for the feel of fear	I
In thicket hid I curs'd the haggard scene	F
The banquet of my arms my arbour queen	F
Seated upon an uptorn forest root	E
And all around her shapes wizard and brute	E
Laughing and wailing groveling serpenting	W
Shewing tooth tusk and venom bag and sting	W
O such deformities Old Charon's self	K
Should he give up awhile his penny pelf	K
And take a dream 'mong rushes Stygian	F
It could not be so phantasied Fierce wan	F
And tyrannizing was the lady's look	W
As over them a gnarled staff she shook	W
Oft times upon the sudden she laugh'd out	E
And from a basket emptied to the rout	E
Clusters of grapes the which they raven'd quick	W
And roar'd for more with many a hungry lick	W
About their shaggy jaws Avenging slow	I
Anon she took a branch of mistletoe	I
And emptied on't a black dull gurgling phial	I
Groan'd one and all as if some piercing trial	I
Was sharpening for their pitiable bones	F
She lifted up the charm appealing groans	F
From their poor breasts went sueing to her ear	I
In vain remorseless as an infant's bier	I
She whisk'd against their eyes the sooty oil	I
Whereat was heard a noise of painful toil	I
Increasing gradual to a tempest rage	S
Shrieks yells and groans of torture pilgrimage	S
Until their grieved bodies 'gan to bloat	E
And puff from the tail's end to stifled throat	E
Then was appalling silence then a sight	E
More wildering than all that hoarse affright	E
For the whole herd as by a whirlwind writhen	F
Went through the dismal air like one huge Python	F
Antagonizing Boreas and so vanish'd	E
Yet there was not a breath of wind she banish'd	E
These phantoms with a nod Lo from the dark	W
Came waggish fauns and nymphs and satyrs stark	W
With dancing and loud revelry and went	E
Swifter than centaurs after rapine bent	E
Sighing an elephant appear'd and bow'd	E
Before the fierce witch speaking thus aloud	E
In human accent Potent goddess chief	K
Of pains resistless make my being brief	K
Or let me from this heavy prison fly	I
Or give me to the air or let me die	I
I sue not for my happy crown again	F
I sue not for my phalanx on the plain	F
I sue not for my lone my widow'd wife	K
I sue not for my ruddy drops of life	K
My children fair my lovely girls and boys	F
I will forget them I will pass these joys	F
Ask nought so heavenward so too too high	I
Only I pray as fairest boon to die	I
Or be deliver'd from this cumbrous flesh	Q2
From this gross detestable filthy mesh	Q2
And merely given to the cold bleak air	I
Have mercy Goddess Circe feel my prayer	I
	-
That curst magician's name fell icy numb	P2
Upon my wild conjecturing truth had come	P2
Naked and sabre like against my heart	E
I saw a fury whetting a death dart	E
And my slain spirit overwrought with fright	E
Fainted away in that dark lair of night	E
Think my deliverer how desolate	E
My waking must have been disgust and hate	E
And terrors manifold divided me	P2
A spoil amongst them I prepar'd to flee	P2
Into the dungeon core of that wild wood	E
I fled three days when lo before me stood	E
Glaring the angry witch O Dis even now	F
A clammy dew is beading on my brow	F
At mere remembering her pale laugh and curse	F
Ha ha Sir Dainty there must be a nurse	F
Made of rose leaves and thistledown express	F
To cradle thee my sweet and lull thee yes	F
I am too flinty hard for thy nice touch	R2
My tenderest squeeze is but a giant's clutch	R2
So fairy thing it shall have lullabies	F
Unheard of yet and it shall still its cries	F
Upon some breast more lily feminine	F
Oh no it shall not pine and pine and pine	F
More than one pretty trifling thousand years	F
And then 'twere pity but fate's gentle shears	F
Cut short its immortality Sea flirt	E
Young dove of the waters truly I'll not hurt	E
One hair of thine see how I weep and sigh	I
That our heart broken parting is so nigh	I
And must we part Ah yes it must be so	I
Yet ere thou leavest me in utter woe	I
Let me sob over thee my last adieus	I
And speak a blessing Mark me thou hast thews	I
Immortal for thou art of heavenly race	I
But such a love is mine that here I chase	I
Eternally away from thee all bloom	P2
Of youth and destine thee towards a tomb	P2
Hence shalt thou quickly to the watery vast	E
And there ere many days be overpast	E
Disabled age shall seize thee and even then	F
Thou shalt not go the way of aged men	F
But live and wither cripple and still breathe	O
Ten hundred years which gone I then bequeath	O
Thy fragile bones to unknown burial	I
Adieu sweet love adieu As shot stars fall	I
She fled ere I could groan for mercy Stung	W
And poisoned was my spirit despair sung	W
A war song of defiance 'gainst all hell	I
A hand was at my shoulder to compel	I
My sullen steps another 'fore my eyes	I
Moved on with pointed finger In this guise	I
Enforced at the last by ocean's foam	P2
I found me by my fresh my native home	P2
Its tempering coolness to my life akin	F
Came salutary as I waded in	F
And with a blind voluptuous rage I gave	K
Battle to the swollen billow ridge and drave	K
Large froth before me while there yet remain'd	E
Hale strength nor from my bones all marrow drain'd	E
	-
Young lover I must weep such hellish spite	E
With dry cheek who can tell While thus my might	E
Proving upon this element dismay'd	E
Upon a dead thing's face my hand I laid	E
I look'd 'twas Scylla Cursed cursed Circe	I
O vulture witch hast never heard of mercy	I
Could not thy harshest vengeance be content	E
But thou must nip this tender innocent	E
Because I lov'd her Cold O cold indeed	E
Were her fair limbs and like a common weed	E
The sea swell took her hair Dead as she was	I
I clung about her waist nor ceas'd to pass	I
Fleet as an arrow through unfathom'd brine	F
Until there shone a fabric crystalline	F
Ribb'd and inlaid with coral pebble and pearl	I
Headlong I darted at one eager swirl	I
Gain'd its bright portal enter'd and behold	E
'Twas vast and desolate and icy cold	E
And all around But wherefore this to thee	I
Who in few minutes more thyself shalt see	I
I left poor Scylla in a niche and fled	E
My fever'd parchings up my scathing dread	E
Met palsy half way soon these limbs became	P2
Gaunt wither'd sapless feeble cramp'd and lame	P2
	-
Now let me pass a cruel cruel space	I
Without one hope without one faintest trace	I
Of mitigation or redeeming bubble	I
Of colour'd phantasy for I fear 'twould trouble	I
Thy brain to loss of reason and next tell	I
How a restoring chance came down to quell	I
One half of the witch in me On a day	E
Sitting upon a rock above the spray	E
I saw grow up from the horizon's brink	W
A gallant vessel soon she seem'd to sink	W
Away from me again as though her course	I
Had been resum'd in spite of hindering force	I
So vanish'd and not long before arose	I
Dark clouds and muttering of winds morose	I
Old Eolus would stifle his mad spleen	F
But could not therefore all the billows green	F
Toss'd up the silver spume against the clouds	I
The tempest came I saw that vessel's shrouds	I
In perilous bustle while upon the deck	W
Stood trembling creatures I beheld the wreck	W
The final gulphing the poor struggling souls	I
I heard their cries amid loud thunder rolls	I
O they had all been sav'd but crazed eld	E
Annull'd my vigorous cravings and thus quell'd	E
And curb'd think on't O Latmian did I sit	E
Writhing with pity and a cursing fit	E
Against that hell born Circe The crew had gone	F
By one and one to pale oblivion	F
And I was gazing on the surges prone	F
With many a scalding tear and many a groan	F
When at my feet emerg'd an old man's hand	E
Grasping this scroll and this same slender wand	E
I knelt with pain reached out my hand had grasp'd	E
These treasures touch'd the knuckles they unclasp'd	E
I caught a finger but the downward weight	E
O'erpowered me it sank Then 'gan abate	E
The storm and through chill aguish gloom outburst	E
The comfortable sun I was athirst	E
To search the book and in the warming air	I
Parted its dripping leaves with eager care	I
Strange matters did it treat of and drew on	F
My soul page after page till well nigh won	F
Into forgetfulness when stupefied	E
I read these words and read again and tried	E
My eyes against the heavens and read again	F
O what a load of misery and pain	F
Each Atlas line bore off a shine of hope	S2
Came gold around me cheering me to cope	S2
Strenuous with hellish tyranny Attend	E
For thou hast brought their promise to an end	E
	-
In the wide sea there lives a forlorn wretch	R2
Doom'd with enfeebled carcase to outstretch	R2
His loath'd existence through ten centuries	I
And then to die alone Who can devise	I
A total opposition No one So	I
One million times ocean must ebb and flow	I
And he oppressed Yet he shall not die	E
These things accomplish'd If he utterly	I
Scans all the depths of magic and expounds	I
The meanings of all motions shapes and sounds	I
If he explores all forms and substances	I
Straight homeward to their symbol essences	I
He shall not die Moreover and in chief	K
He must pursue this task of joy and grief	K
Most piously all lovers tempest tost	E
And in the savage overwhelming lost	E
He shall deposit side by side until	I
Time's creeping shall the dreary space fulfil	I
Which done and all these labours ripened	E
A youth by heavenly power lov'd and led	E
Shall stand before him whom he shall direct	E
How to consummate all The youth elect	E
Must do the thing or both will be destroy'd	E
	-
Then cried the young Endymion overjoy'd	E
We are twin brothers in this destiny	I
Say I intreat thee what achievement high	E
Is in this restless world for me reserv'd	E
What if from thee my wandering feet had swerv'd	E
Had we both perish'd Look the sage replied	E
Dost thou not mark a gleaming through the tide	E
Of divers brilliances 'tis the edifice	I
I told thee of where lovely Scylla lies	I
And where I have enshrined piously	I
All lovers whom fell storms have doom'd to die	E
Throughout my bondage Thus discoursing on	F
They went till unobscur'd the porches shone	F
Which hurryingly they gain'd and enter'd straight	E
Sure never since king Neptune held his state	E
Was seen such wonder underneath the stars	I
Turn to some level plain where haughty Mars	I
Has legion'd all his battle and behold	E
How every soldier with firm foot doth hold	E
His even breast see many steeled squares	I
And rigid ranks of iron whence who dares	I
One step Imagine further line by line	F
These warrior thousands on the field supine	F
So in that crystal place in silent rows	I
Poor lovers lay at rest from joys and woes	I
The stranger from the mountains breathless trac'd	E
Such thousands of shut eyes in order plac'd	E
Such ranges of white feet and patient lips	I
All ruddy for here death no blossom nips	I
He mark'd their brows and foreheads saw their hair	I
Put sleekly on one side with nicest care	I
And each one's gentle wrists with reverence	I
Put cross wise to its heart	E
	-
Let us commence	I
Whisper'd the guide stuttering with joy even now	F
He spake and trembling like an aspen bough	F
Began to tear his scroll in pieces small	I
Uttering the while some mumblings funeral	I
He tore it into pieces small as snow	I
That drifts unfeather'd when bleak northerns blow	I
And having done it took his dark blue cloak	W
And bound it round Endymion then struck	W
His wand against the empty air times nine	F
What more there is to do young man is thine	F
But first a little patience first undo	E
This tangled thread and wind it to a clue	E
Ah gentle 'tis as weak as spider's skein	F
And shouldst thou break it What is it done so clean	F
A power overshadows thee Oh brave	K
The spite of hell is tumbling to its grave	K
Here is a shell 'tis pearly blank to me	I
Nor mark'd with any sign or charactery	I
Canst thou read aught O read for pity's sake	W
Olympus we are safe Now Carian break	W
This wand against yon lyre on the pedestal	I
	-
'Twas done and straight with sudden swell and fall	I
Sweet music breath'd her soul away and sigh'd	E
A lullaby to silence Youth now strew	I
These minced leaves on me and passing through	I
Those files of dead scatter the same around	E
And thou wilt see the issue 'Mid the sound	E
Of flutes and viols ravishing his heart	E
Endymion from Glaucus stood apart	E
And scatter'd in his face some fragments light	E
How lightning swift the change a youthful wight	E
Smiling beneath a coral diadem	P2
Out sparkling sudden like an upturn'd gem	P2
Appear'd and stepping to a beauteous corse	I
Kneel'd down beside it and with tenderest force	I
Press'd its cold hand and wept and Scylla sigh'd	E
Endymion with quick hand the charm applied	E
The nymph arose he left them to their joy	S
And onward went upon his high employ	S
Showering those powerful fragments on the dead	E
And as he pass'd each lifted up its head	E
As doth a flower at Apollo's touch	R2
Death felt it to his inwards 'twas too much	R2
Death fell a weeping in his charnel house	I
The Latmian persever'd along and thus	I
All were re animated There arose	I
A noise of harmony pulses and throes	I
Of gladness in the air while many who	I
Had died in mutual arms devout and true	I
Sprang to each other madly and the rest	E
Felt a high certainty of being blest	E
They gaz'd upon Endymion Enchantment	E
Grew drunken and would have its head and bent	E
Delicious symphonies like airy flowers	I
Budded and swell'd and full blown shed full showers	I
Of light soft unseen leaves of sounds divine	F
The two deliverers tasted a pure wine	F
Of happiness from fairy press ooz'd out	E
Speechless they eyed each other and about	E
The fair assembly wander'd to and fro	I
Distracted with the richest overflow	I
Of joy that ever pour'd from heaven	F
	-
Away	E
Shouted the new born god Follow and pay	E
Our piety to Neptunus supreme	P2
Then Scylla blushing sweetly from her dream	P2
They led on first bent to her meek surprise	I
Through portal columns of a giant size	I
Into the vaulted boundless emerald	E
Joyous all follow'd as the leader call'd	E
Down marble steps pouring as easily	I
As hour glass sand and fast as you might see	I
Swallows obeying the south summer's call	I
Or swans upon a gentle waterfall	I
	-
Thus went that beautiful multitude nor far	I
Ere from among some rocks of glittering spar	I
Just within ken they saw descending thick	W
Another multitude Whereat more quick	W
Moved either host On a wide sand they met	E
And of those numbers every eye was wet	E
For each their old love found A murmuring rose	I
Like what was never heard in all the throes	I
Of wind and waters 'tis past human wit	E
To tell 'tis dizziness to think of it	E
	-
This mighty consummation made the host	E
Mov'd on for many a league and gain'd and lost	E
Huge sea marks vanward swelling in array	E
And from the rear diminishing away	E
Till a faint dawn surpris'd them Glaucus cried	E
Behold behold the palace of his pride	E
God Neptune's palaces With noise increas'd	E
They shoulder'd on towards that brightening east	E
At every onward step proud domes arose	I
In prospect diamond gleams and golden glows	I
Of amber 'gainst their faces levelling	W
Joyous and many as the leaves in spring	W
Still onward still the splendour gradual swell'd	E
Rich opal domes were seen on high upheld	E
By jasper pillars letting through their shafts	I
A blush of coral Copious wonder draughts	I
Each gazer drank and deeper drank more near	I
For what poor mortals fragment up as mere	I
As marble was there lavish to the vast	E
Of one fair palace that far far surpass'd	E
Even for common bulk those olden three	I
Memphis and Babylon and Nineveh	K
	-
As large as bright as colour'd as the bow	F
Of Iris when unfading it doth shew	I
Beyond a silvery shower was the arch	R2
Through which this Paphian army took its march	R2
Into the outer courts of Neptune's state	E
Whence could be seen direct a golden gate	E
To which the leaders sped but not half raught	E
Ere it burst open swift as fairy thought	E
And made those dazzled thousands veil their eyes	I
Like callow eagles at the first sunrise	I
Soon with an eagle nativeness their gaze	I
Ripe from hue golden swoons took all the blaze	I
And then behold large Neptune on his throne	F
Of emerald deep yet not exalt alone	F
At his right hand stood winged Love and on	F
His left sat smiling Beauty's paragon	F
	-
Far as the mariner on highest mast	E
Can see all round upon the calmed vast	E
So wide was Neptune's hall and as the blue	I
Doth vault the waters so the waters drew	I
Their doming curtains high magnificent	E
Aw'd from the throne aloof and when storm rent	E
Disclos'd the thunder gloomings in Jove's air	I
But sooth'd as now flash'd sudden everywhere	I
Noiseless sub marine cloudlets glittering	W
Death to a human eye for there did spring	W
From natural west and east and south and north	O
A light as of four sunsets blazing forth	O
A gold green zenith 'bove the Sea God's head	E
Of lucid depth the floor and far outspread	E
As breezeless lake on which the slim canoe	I
Of feather'd Indian darts about as through	I
The delicatest air air verily	I
But for the portraiture of clouds and sky	W
This palace floor breath air but for the amaze	I
Of deep seen wonders motionless and blaze	I
Of the dome pomp reflected in extremes	I
Globing a golden sphere	I
	-
They stood in dreams	I
Till Triton blew his horn The palace rang	W
The Nereids danc'd the Syrens faintly sang	W
And the great Sea King bow'd his dripping head	E
Then Love took wing and from his pinions shed	E
On all the multitude a nectarous dew	I
The ooze born Goddess beckoned and drew	I
Fair Scylla and her guides to conference	I
And when they reach'd the throned eminence	I
She kist the sea nymph's cheek who sat her down	F
A toying with the doves Then Mighty crown	F
And sceptre of this kingdom Venus said	E
Thy vows were on a time to Nais paid	E
Behold Two copious tear drops instant fell	I
From the God's large eyes he smil'd delectable	I
And over Glaucus held his blessing hands	I
Endymion Ah still wandering in the bands	I
Of love Now this is cruel Since the hour	I
I met thee in earth's bosom all my power	I
Have I put forth to serve thee What not yet	E
Escap'd from dull mortality's harsh net	E
A little patience youth 'twill not be long	W
Or I am skilless quite an idle tongue	W
A humid eye and steps luxurious	I
Where these are new and strange are ominous	I
Aye I have seen these signs in one of heaven	F
When others were all blind and were I given	F
To utter secrets haply I might say	E
Some pleasant words but Love will have his day	E
So wait awhile expectant Pr'ythee soon	F
Even in the passing of thine honey moon	F
Visit my Cytherea thou wilt find	E
Cupid well natured my Adonis kind	E
And pray persuade with thee Ah I have done	F
All blisses be upon thee my sweet son	F
Thus the fair goddess while Endymion	F
Knelt to receive those accents halcyon	F
	-
Meantime a glorious revelry began	F
Before the Water Monarch Nectar ran	F
In courteous fountains to all cups outreach'd	E
And plunder'd vines teeming exhaustless pleach'd	E
New growth about each shell and pendent lyre	I
The which in disentangling for their fire	I
Pull'd down fresh foliage and coverture	I
For dainty toying Cupid empire sure	I
Flutter'd and laugh'd and oft times through the throng	W
Made a delighted way Then dance and song	W
And garlanding grew wild and pleasure reign'd	E
In harmless tendril they each other chain'd	E
And strove who should be smother'd deepest in	F
Fresh crush of leaves	I
	-
O 'tis a very sin	F
For one so weak to venture his poor verse	I
In such a place as this O do not curse	I
High Muses let him hurry to the ending	W
	-
All suddenly were silent A soft blending	W
Of dulcet instruments came charmingly	I
And then a hymn	F
	-
KING of the stormy sea	I
Brother of Jove and co inheritor	I
Of elements Eternally before	I
Thee the waves awful bow Fast stubborn rock	W
At thy fear'd trident shrinking doth unlock	W
Its deep foundations hissing into foam	P2
All mountain rivers lost in the wide home	P2
Of thy capacious bosom ever flow	I
Thou frownest and old Eolus thy foe	I
Skulks to his cavern 'mid the gruff complaint	E
Of all his rebel tempests Dark clouds faint	E
When from thy diadem a silver gleam	P2
Slants over blue dominion Thy bright team	P2
Gulphs in the morning light and scuds along	W
To bring thee nearer to that golden song	W
Apollo singeth while his chariot	E
Waits at the doors of heaven Thou art not	E
For scenes like this an empire stern hast thou	F
And it hath furrow'd that large front yet now	F
As newly come of heaven dost thou sit	E
To blend and interknit	E
Subdued majesty with this glad time	P2
O shell borne King sublime	P2
We lay our hearts before thee evermore	I
We sing and we adore	I
	-
Breathe softly flutes	I
Be tender of your strings ye soothing lutes	I
Nor be the trumpet heard O vain O vain	F
Not flowers budding in an April rain	F
Nor breath of sleeping dove nor river's flow	I
No nor the Eolian twang of Love's own bow	F
Can mingle music fit for the soft ear	I
Of goddess Cytherea	I
Yet deign white Queen of Beauty thy fair eyes	I
On our souls' sacrifice	I
	-
Bright winged Child	E
Who has another care when thou hast smil'd	E
Unfortunates on earth we see at last	E
All death shadows and glooms that overcast	E
Our spirits fann'd away by thy light pinions	I
O sweetest essence sweetest of all minions	I
God of warm pulses and dishevell'd hair	I
And panting bosoms bare	I
Dear unseen light in darkness eclipser	I
Of light in light delicious poisoner	I
Thy venom'd goblet will we quaff until	I
We fill we fill	I
And by thy Mother's lips	I
	-
	-
Was heard no more	I
For clamour when the golden palace door	I
Opened again and from without in shone	F
A new magnificence On oozy throne	F
Smooth moving came Oceanus the old	E
To take a latest glimpse at his sheep fold	E
Before he went into his quiet cave	K
To muse for ever Then a lucid wave	K
Scoop'd from its trembling sisters of mid sea	I
Afloat and pillowing up the majesty	I
Of Doris and the Egean seer her spouse	I
Next on a dolphin clad in laurel boughs	I
Theban Amphion leaning on his lute	E
His fingers went across it All were mute	E
To gaze on Amphitrite queen of pearls	I
And Thetis pearly too	E
	-
The palace whirls	I
Around giddy Endymion seeing he	I
Was there far strayed from mortality	I
He could not bear it shut his eyes in vain	F
Imagination gave a dizzier pain	F
O I shall die sweet Venus be my stay	E
Where is my lovely mistress Well away	E
I die I hear her voice I feel my wing	W
At Neptune's feet he sank A sudden ring	W
Of Nereids were about him in kind strife	K
To usher back his spirit into life	K
But still he slept At last they interwove	K
Their cradling arms and purpos'd to convey	K
Towards a crystal bower far away	K
	-
Lo while slow carried through the pitying crowd	E
To his inward senses these words spake aloud	E
Written in star light on the dark above	K
Dearest Endymion my entire love	K
How have I dwelt in fear of fate 'tis done	F
Immortal bliss for me too hast thou won	F
Arise then for the hen dove shall not hatch	R2
Her ready eggs before I'll kissing snatch	R2
Thee into endless heaven Awake awake	W
	-
The youth at once arose a placid lake	W
Came quiet to his eyes and forest green	F
Cooler than all the wonders he had seen	F
Lull'd with its simple song his fluttering breast	E
How happy once again in grassy nest	E

John Keats

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