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Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art

by John Keats

Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—          
  Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,       
And watching, with eternal lids apart,    
  Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,             
The moving waters at their priestlike task
  Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask   
  Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—              
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,          
  Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,     
  Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,        
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,           
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.

Read more John Keats at Bartleby.com.

"Bright Star!" is this week's Poem to Go; pick up a printed copy of this poem at participating KU Libraries service desks.

KU Libraries collections contain more than 28,000 books of or about poetry. Throughout April, a special selection of poetry books will be available for checkout in Watson Library near the 3rd floor service desk. Come check it out!

Return to KU Libraries Poem-a-Day main page.