The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats/On Death

by John Keats

For works with similar titles, see On Death.

ON DEATH

Assigned by George Keats to the year 1814, and first printed in Forman's edition, 1883.

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?
The transient pleasures as a vision seem,
And yet we think the greatest pain 's to die.

How strange it is that man on earth should roam,
And lead a life of woe, but not forsake
His rugged path; nor dare he view alone
His future doom, which is but to awake.