| John Keats (1795–1821). The Poetical Works of John Keats. 1884. |
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| 20. O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell |
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| 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, | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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. | |
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