Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO JOSEPH SEVERN; FOR THE CENTENARY OF KEATS' DEATH, 26 FEBRUARY 1921 by CHARLES WHARTON STORK

First Line: WE WHO LOVED KEATS WILL NEVER LONG FORGET
Last Line: AND WATCHED THE SOUL WIN FREE FROM TIME'S ECLIPSE.
Subject(s): KEATS, JOHN (1795-1821); POETRY & POETS; SEVERN, JOSEPH (1793-1879);

We who loved Keats will never long forget
Your memory, Severn: how your hand could trace
With tenderest art his dream-enshrouded face;
Could mould that moonlight-haunted brow, where met,
As in a fane on some Greek island set,
The beauty that transcends all time and place,
And the more winsome, earth-begotten grace
Of altar-flowers with limpid dew-drops wet.

But what you gave to Keats the man, your friend,
Has bound your name to his with dearer ties.
You soothed and shared his anguish at the end;
You heard the last cry of those passionate lips;
You last beheld those wonder-seeing eyes;
And watched the soul win free from Time's eclipse.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net