Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
John Keats
Souls of Poets dead and gone,
What Elysium have ye known,
Happy field or mossy cavern,
Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?
Have ye tippled drink more fine
Than mine host's Canary wine?
Or are fruits of Paradise
Sweeter than those dainty pies
Of venison? O generous food!
Drest as though bold Robin Hood
Would, with his maid Marian,
Supper eat for any man?
Where the turbaned Turk, that scorns
The sweet Jesus' cradle-horns,
Eat his apple and his date?
Is the wine of heaven great
As the wine of Mermaid Inn?
O for any drink but sin!
O for any sin but fright!
O for any fright but night!
Verse breaks and indentation are preserved. Wrapped lines have a hanging indent. Width adapts to your screen.
Published in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820.
