for Keats

Just watched Bright Star, a movie based on the relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Keats recites part of this poem to Fanny, and the film ends with Fanny crying the words upon the news of his premature death. I found myself more moved by Keats' poetry than any of the acting or cinematography. Read this slowly and savor :)

Bright Star, Would I were Steadfast as Thou Art

By John Keats 1795–1821
 

Bright star, would I were stedfast 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 stedfast, 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.