Public-domain source text

To a Lady Seen for a Few Moments at Vauxhall

by John Keats

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/john-keats_poetry

Time’s sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand, Since I was tangled in thy beauty’s web, And snared by the ungloving of thine hand. And yet I never look on midnight sky, But I behold thine eyes’ well-memoried light; I cannot look upon the rose’s dye, But to thy cheek my soul doth take its flight; I cannot look on any budding flower, But my fond ear, in fancy at thy lips And hearkening for a love-sound, doth devour Its sweets in the wrong sense:⁠—Thou dost eclipse Every delight with sweet remembering, And grief unto my darling joys dost bring.

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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