Littell's Living Age/Volume 130/Issue 1675/Blue Eyes

by John Keats

For works with similar titles, see Blue Eyes.

BLUE EYES.

Blue! 'tis the hue of heaven, — the domain
Of Cynthia, - the bright palace of the sun,
The tent of Hesperus and all his train,
The bosomer of clouds, gold, grey, and dun.

Blue, 'tis the life of waters, — ocean,
With all his tributary streams, pools numberless,
May rage and foam and fret, but never can
Subside, if not to dark-blue nativeness.

Blue! gentle cousin to the forest green;
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers, —
Forget-me-not; the bluebell; 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!

Athenæum.⁠

⁠Sonnet by Keats.