The complete poetical works and letters of John Keats/To —— 'Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs'

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To my Brother George
The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats
by John Keats
To —— 'Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs'
Specimen of an Induction to a Poem
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4082929The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats — To —— 'Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs'John Keats
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TO ——

There is no clue to the identity of the person addressed and no date is affixed. It was published in the 1817 volume, and there follows the one addressed to his brother George.

Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs
Be echoed swiftly through that ivory shell
Thine ear, and find thy gentle heart; so well
Would passion arm me for the enterprise:
But ah! I am no knight whose foeman dies;
No cuirass glistens on my bosom's swell;
I am no happy shepherd of the dell
Whose lips have trembled with a maiden's eyes.
​Yet must I dote upon thee,—call thee sweet,
Sweeter by far than Hybla's honied roses
When steep'd in dew rich to intoxication.
Ah! I will taste that dew, for me 't is meet,
And when the moon her pallid face discloses,
I 'll gather some by spells, and incantation.

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