340 Though I have found, I will not rob thy nest Saving of thy sweet self; if thou think'st well To trust, fair Madeline, to no rude infidel.
39
'Hark! 'tis an elfin-storm from faery land, Of haggard3 seeming, but a boon indeed:
345 Arise?arise! the morning is at hand;-? The bloated wassaillers4 will never heed:? Let us away, my love, with happy speed; There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see,? Drown'd all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead:5
350 Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be, For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee.'
40
She hurried at his words, beset with fears, For there were sleeping dragons all around, At glaring watch, perhaps, with ready spears?
355 Down the wide stairs a darkling6 way they found,? In all the house was heard no human sound. A chain-droop'd lamp was flickering by each door; The arras,0 rich with horseman, hawk, and hound, tapestry Flutter'd in the besieging wind's uproar;
360 And the long carpets rose along the gusty floor.
41 They glide, like phantoms, into the wide hall; Like phantoms, to the iron porch, they glide; Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl, With a huge empty flaggon by his side:
365 The wakeful bloodhound rose, and shook his hide, But his sagacious eye an inmate owns:7 By one, and one, the bolts full easy slide:? The chains lie silent on the footworn stones;?
The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans.
42
370 And they are gone: ay, ages long ago These lovers fled away into the storm.
3. Wild, untamed (originally, a wild hawk). heavy fermented drink made with honey). 4. Drunken carousers. 6. In the dark. 5. Rhine wine and the sleep-producing mead (a 7. Acknowledges a member of the household.
.
89 8 / JOHN KEATS
That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe,
And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form
Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm,
375 Were long be-nightmar'd. Angela the old
Died palsy-twitch'd, with meagre face deform;
The Beadsman, after thousand aves8 told,
For aye? unsought for slept among his ashes cold. ever
Jan.?Feb. 1819 1820
Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell1
Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell:
No god, no demon of severe response,
Deigns to reply from heaven or from hell.
Then to my human heart I turn at once?
5 Heart! thou and I are here sad and alone;
Say, wherefore did I laugh? O mortal pain!
O darkness! darkness! ever must I moan,
To question heaven and hell and heart in vain!
Why did I laugh? I know this being's lease?
10 My fancy to its utmost blisses spreads:
Yet could I on this very midnight cease,
And the world's gaudy ensigns0 see in shreds. banners
Verse, fame, and beauty are intense indeed,
But death intenser?death is life's high meed.
Mar. 1819 1848
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art1
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art?
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
