Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/180

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
168
ISABELLA.

Great bliss was with them, and great happiness
Grew, like a lusty flower in June's caress.

X.

Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air,

Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart
Only to meet again more close, and share
The inward fragrance of each other's heart,
She, to her chamber gone, a ditty fair
Sang, of delicious love and honey'd dart;
He with light steps went up a western hill,
And bade the sun farewell, and joy'd his fill.

XI.

All close they met again, before the dusk

Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,
All close they met, all eves, before the dusk
Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,
Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk,
Unknown of any, free from whispering tale,
Ah! better had it been forever so,
Than idle ears should pleasure in their woe.

XII.

Were they unhappy then?—It cannot be—

Too many tears for lovers have been shed,
Too many sighs give we to them in fee,
Too much of pity after they are dead,
Too many doleful stories do we see,
Whose matter in bright gold were best be read;
Except in such a page where Theseus' spouse
Over the pathless waves towards him bows.