1816
                  ON SITTING DOWN TO READ KING LEAR ONCE AGAIN
                                 by John Keats

        O golden tongued Romance, with serene lute!
          Fair plumed Syren, Queen of far-away!
          Leave melodizing on this wintry day,
        Shut up thine olden pages, and be mute:
        Adieu! for once again the fierce dispute
          Betwixt damnation and impassion'd clay
          Must I burn through; once more humbly assay
        The bitter-sweet of this Shakespearian fruit.
        Chief Poet! and ye clouds of Albion,
          Begetters of our deep eternal theme!
        When through the old oak Forest I am gone,
          Let me not wander in a barren dream,
        But when I am consumed in the fire,
        Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire.

                        THE END
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