Keats

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A thing of beauty

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its love­li­ness increases; it will never
Pass into nothin­gness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet brea­thing.
The­re­fore, on every morrow, are we wrea­thing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of des­pon­dence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our sear­ching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprou­ting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daf­fo­dils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for them­selves a cooling covert make
’Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprink­ling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the gran­deur of the dooms
We have ima­gined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless foun­tain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.

John Keats, Endy­mion Book I

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