O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell / Keats, John

                                      1816
                     O SOLITUDE! IF I MUST WITH THEE DWELL
                                 by John Keats

        O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
          Let it not be among the jumbled heap
          Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep,-
        Nature's observatory- whence the dell,
        Its flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,
          May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
          'Mongst boughs pavillion'd, where the deer's swift leap
        Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.
        But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
          Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
          Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,
        Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be
          Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
        When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

                        THE END
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