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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats


Midsummer Eve Edward Robert Hughes 1908

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
         Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
         Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
         And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
                Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
                        But here there is no light,
         Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
                Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I couldn't let the day pass without revisiting my favourite John Keats poem, Ode to a Nightingale. It always makes me think of a beautiful summer night. Today marks the bicentenary of his death in 1821. He was only 25. In my chapbook I include a poem called John Keats' Ghost but here I'm going to add another he inspired, which appeared in Skylight 47



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