ADONAIS AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS, AUTHOR OF ENDYMION, HYPERION, ETC. Αστὴρ πρὶν μὲν ἔλαμπες ἐνὶ ζώοισιν Εφος νῦν δὲ θανὼν λάμπεις Εσπερος ἐν φθιμένοις.— PLATO. I WEEP for Adonais I he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head! Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be II Where wert thou, mighty Mother, when he lay, She sate, while one, with soft enamoured breath, With which, like flowers that mock the corse beneath, He had adorned and hid the coming bulk of Death. III Oh, weep for Adonais - he is dead! Wake, melancholy Mother, wake and weep! Yet wherefore? Quench within their burning bed Will yet restore him to the vital air; Death feeds on his mute voice, and laughs at our despair. IV Most musical of mourners, weep again! Who was the Sire of an immortal strain, Blind, old, and lonely, when his country's pride Into the gulf of death; but his clear Sprite Yet reigns o'er earth; the third among the sons of light. V Most musical of mourners, weep anew! Not all to that bright station dared to climb; And happier they their happiness who knew, Whose tapers yet burn through that night of time In which suns perished; others more sublime, Struck by the envious wrath of man or god, Have sunk, extinct in their refulgent prime; And some yet live, treading the thorny road, Which leads, through toil and hate, to Fame's serene abode. VI But now, thy youngest, dearest one, has perished- Thy extreme hope, the loveliest and the last, VII To that high Capital, where kingly Death Keeps his pale court in beauty and decay, He came; and bought, with price of purest breath, A grave among the eternal. Come away! Haste, while the vault of blue Italian day Is yet his fitting charnel-roof! while still He lies, as if in dewy sleep he lay; Awake him not! surely he takes his fill Of deep and liquid rest, forgetful of all ill. VIII He will awake no more, oh, never more! Of change, shall o'er his sleep the mortal curtain draw. IX Oh, weep for Adonais! - The quick Dreams, Round the cold heart, where, after their sweet pain, They ne'er will gather strength, or find a home again. X And one with trembling hands clasps his cold head, And fans him with her moonlight wings, and cries; A tear some Dream has loosened from his brain." She knew not 'twas her own; as with no stain She faded, like a cloud which had outwept its rain. XI One from a lucid urn of starry dew Another in her wilful grief would break A greater loss with one which was more weak And dull the barbèd fire against his frozen cheek. XII Another Splendour on his mouth alit, That mouth, whence it was wont to draw the breath Which gave it strength to pierce the guarded wit, And pass into the panting heart beneath With lightning and with music: the damp death Quenched its caress upon his icy lips; And, as a dying meteor stains a wreath Of moonlight vapour, which the cold night clips, It flushed through his pale limbs, and passed to its eclipse. XIII And others came... Desires and Adorations, Of hopes and fears, and twilight Phantasies; And Pleasure, blind with tears, led by the gleam seem Like pageantry of mist on an autumnal stream. |