['When we spoke to her of the New Jerusalem, she said she would rather go to a country place in Heaven.'-Letters from the Black Country]. I'm weary of towns, it seems a'most a pity We didn't stop down i' the country and clem; And you say that I'm bound for another city, For the streets o' the New Jerusalem. And the streets are never like Sheffield, here, Nor the smoke don't cling like a smut to them; But the water o' life flows cool and clear Through the streets o' the New Jerusalem. And the houses, you say, are of jasper cut, And the gates are gaudy wi' gold and gem; But there's times I could wish as the gates were shut- The gates o' the New Jerusalem. For I come from a country that's over-built Wi' streets that stifle, and walls that hem; And the gorse on a common's worth all the gilt And the gold of your New Jerusalem. And I hope that they'll bring me, in Paradise, To green lanes leafy wi' bough and stem- To a country place in the land o' the skies, And not to the New Jerusalem. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUGGESTED BY THE COVER OF A VOLUME OF KEATS'S POEMS by AMY LOWELL THE SONG OF THE MAD WOMAN'S SON by KAREN SWENSON ODE ON MELANCHOLY by JOHN KEATS HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 4 by EZRA POUND THE MORAL FABLES: THE TALE OF THE TWO MICE by AESOP |