Keats; poems published in 1820/Bards of Passion and of Mirth
For other versions of this work, see Bards of Passion and of Mirth.
ODE.
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,Ye have left your souls on earth!Have ye souls in heaven too,Double-lived in regions new?Yes, and those of heaven communeWith the spheres of sun and moon;With the noise of fountains wond'rous,And the parle of voices thund'rous;With the whisper of heaven's treesAnd one another, in soft ease 10Seated on Elysian lawnsBrows'd by none but Dian's fawnsUnderneath large blue-bells tented,Where the daisies are rose-scented, And the rose herself has gotPerfume which on earth is not;Where the nightingale doth singNot a senseless, tranced thing,But divine melodious truth;Philosophic numbers smooth; 20Tales and golden historiesOf heaven and its mysteries.
Thus ye live on high, and thenOn the earth ye live again;And the souls ye left behind youTeach us, here, the way to find you,Where your other souls are joying,Never slumber'd, never cloying.Here, your earth-born souls still speakTo mortals, of their little week; 30 Of their sorrows and delights;Of their passions and their spites;Of their glory and their shame;What doth strengthen and what maim.Thus ye teach us, every day,Wisdom, though fled far away.
Bards of Passion and of Mirth,Ye have left your souls on earth!Ye have souls in heaven too,Double-lived in regions new!40