To Homer by JOHN KEATS

Standing aloof in giant ignorance,

   Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,

As one who sits ashore and longs perchance

   To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.

So thou wast blind;—but then the veil was rent,

   For Jove uncurtain'd Heaven to let thee live,

And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,

   And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;

Aye on the shores of darkness there is light,

   And precipices show untrodden green,

There is a budding morrow in midnight,

   There is a triple sight in blindness keen;

Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befel

To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell.