Arts & Sciences

Keats

by Henry van Dyke 1852–1933

From The Poems of Henry van Dyke (1925)

Arts & Sciences

The melancholy gift Aurora gained
From Jove, that her sad lover should not see
The face of death, no goddess asked for thee,
My Keats! But when the scarlet blood-drop stained
Thy pillow, thou didst read the fate ordained,--
Brief life, wild love, a flight of poesy!
And then,--a shadow fell on Italy:
Thy star went down before its brightness waned.

Yet thou hast won the gift Tithonus missed:
Never to feel the pain of growing old,
Nor lose the blissful sight of beauty's truth,
But with the ardent lips Urania kissed
To breathe thy song, and, ere thy heart grew cold,
Become the Poet of Immortal Youth.

✦ ✦ ✦

From "In Praise of Poets". Dated August, 1906 in the source.

MLA

Dyke, Henry van. “Keats.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/vandyke/169/.

Chicago

Dyke, Henry van. “Keats.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/vandyke/169/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Henry van Dyke