John Keats, poet

"Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine..."

"ODE TO MELANCHOLY"
by John Keats

NO, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

She dwells with Beauty--Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.

*The allusions in this poem are as follows: Lethe, a river whose waters in Hades bring forgetfulness to the dead; nightshade and wolfsbane are poisonous herbs from which sedatives and opiates were extracted; Prosperine is the Queen of Hades; yew-berries are symbols of mourning which often grow in cemeteries; death-moth, beetle, downy owl et al. refers to the beetles, moths, and owls have been traditionally associated with darkness, death and burial - "Psyche" means "soul", sometimes symbolized by a moth that escapes the mouth in sleep or at death; and "She" in the beginning of the third stanza refers to the goddess Melancholy.

"DESPAIR"
"Right now, Life is toying with me; dangling Death right in front of my nose, only to snatch it away when I reach out to grab it."