Classic Poem

(Keats' Birthday)

Time sitting on the throne of Memory
Bade all her subject Days the past had known
Arise and say what thing gave them renown
Unforgetable, " Rising from the sea,
I gave the Genoese his dreams to be;"
" I saw the Corsican's Guards swept down;"
" Colonies I made free from a tyrant's crown;" —
So each Day told its immortality.

And with these blazing triumphs spoke one voice
Whose wistful speech no vaunting did employ:
" I know not if 'twere by Fate's chance or choice
I hold the lowly birth of an English boy;
I only know he made man's heart rejoice
Because he played with Beauty for a toy!"