A World without Light, A Poem by Nell Jones for John Keats

[Nell Jones]

I wrote this poem for the 200 Year Commemoration of John Keats Death last year in 2021. Hope you enjoy it.

http://https://ksh.roma.it/content/keats-shelley200

A World without Light

Upon the yearning of your quietus, when
Everything passes into one moment,
And Death’s veil, absorbs the eternal space,
The poet’s soul, drifts from a long embrace,
A petal, falling from a flower’s head,
Who, forever lies lost, in destined swoon,
Cradled in the sky like the phases of the moon.

But Time transforms, bitter, immortal crown,
In marble cloak, love’s temple, is torn down,
With dark regret, her invisible words fade,
And love’s fair trust, is left in the arms of a maid.

A Raven, upon the perpetual boat,
Mournful, exhales its breath, your breath like mist,
Above the fountain, sad tidings descend,
Trice, like poor Hylas to the water nymphs,
To becalm your name, it is energy-
Like an oak.

As Spring slips between your fingers, songbirds,
Sing, to tell how the nightingale laments,
That no poetry can explain it, the
Poet who cannot love, but only be
In love with love.

But now thy name is writ in water and,
Through everlasting gaze, millenniums,
Will remember you. You, who from ancient
Day’s past, have long since evaporated,
Into this moon bather’s night, this morning,
Of the world, where there is no light.

Copyright Nell Jones 2021