Blue Eyes

John Keats (1795–1821)

Answer to a Sonnet Ending Thus—
“Dark eyes are dearer far
Than those that made the hyacinthine bell.”
By T. H. Reynolds.

BLUE! ’T is the life of heaven,—the domain

Of Cynthia,—the wide palace of the sun,—

The tent of Hesperus, and all his train,—

The bosom of clouds, gold, gray, and dun.

Blue! ’T is the life of waters—ocean

And all its vassal streams: pools numberless

May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can

Subside, if not to dark-blue nativeness.

Blue! Gentle cousin of the forest-green,

Married to green in all the sweetest flowers—

Forget-me-not,—the blue-bell,—and, that queen

Of secrecy, the violet: what strange powers

Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great,

When in an Eye thou art alive with fate!