The moon put forth a little diamond peak,
No bigger than an unobserved star,

Or tiny point of fairy scymetar;

Bright signal that she only stoop'd to tie

Her silver sandals, ere deliciously

She bow'd into the heavens her timid head.

500

Slowly she rose, as though she would have fled,
While to his lady meek the Carian turn'd,
To mark if her dark eyes had yet discern'd
This beauty in its birth

He saw her body fading gaunt and spare

505

Despair! despair!

In the cold moonshine. Straight he seiz'd her wrist;
It melted from his grasp: her hand he kiss'd,

And, horror! kiss'd his own

Her steed a little higher soar'd, and then
Dropt hawkwise to the earth.

There lies a den,

Beyond the seeming confines of the space
Made for the soul to wander in and trace
Its own existence, of remotest glooms.
Dark regions are around it, where the tombs
Of buried griefs the spirit sees, but scarce
One hour doth linger weeping, for the pierce
Of new-born woe it feels more inly smart:
And in these regions many a venom'd dart
At random flies; they are the proper home
Of every ill the man is yet to come
Who hath not journeyed in this native hell.
But few have ever felt how calm and well

(505-10) In the draft, this passage stands thus:

To mark if her dark eyes slept or discern'd
Such beauty being born Despair! despair!
He saw her body faded gaunt and spare
In the cold moonshine.
It melted from his grasp
To madness for his

Straight her wrist he seized
his lips were teazed

515

520

In the finished manuscript there is no variation from the printed text to account for the loss of a rhyme.

(513) In the draft this line stands thus

Of misery beyond the seeming confines of the space...

(518) The draft reads lingers for doth linger, so as to force the word hour inta service as a dissyllable.

(520) In the draft, a random dart.

(522) The draft reads that soul for the man.

Sleep may be had in that deep den of all.

525

There anguish does not sting; nor pleasure pall:
Woe-hurricanes beat ever at the gate,

Yet all is still within and desolate.

Beset with plainful gusts, within ye hear

No sound so loud as when on curtain'd bier

530

The death-watch tick is stifled. Enter none

Who strive therefore: on the sudden it is won.

Just when the sufferer begins to burn,
Then it is free to him; and from an urn,
Still fed by melting ice, he takes a draught
Young Semele such richness never quaft
In her maternal longing! Happy gloom!
Dark Paradise! where pale becomes the bloom
Of health by due; where silence dreariest
Is most articulate; where hopes infest;

535

540

Where those eyes are the brightest far that keep
Their lids shut longest in a dreamless sleep.
O happy spirit-home! O wondrous soul!"
Pregnant with such a den to save the whole
In thine own depth. Hail, gentle Carian!
For, never since thy griefs and woes began,
Hast thou felt so content: a grievous feud
Hath led thee to this Cave of Quietude.

545

Aye, his lull'd soul was there, although upborne

With dangerous speed: and so he did not mourn
Because he knew not whither he was going.

550

So happy was he, not the aerial blowing

(526-7) The draft reads thus:

There anguish stings not-sweetness cannot pall:
Dark hurricanes of woe beat ever at the gate,...

(531) The draft has muffled in place of stifled.

(534) The draft reads. This den is free to him.

(539) The curious expression Of health by due, unmistakably so written in the finished manuscript and printed in the first edition, is represented in the draft by The rightful tinge of health. We may therefore presume that by due is used as an equivalent for by right.

(542) The draft reads close for shut.

(546) In the draft, griefs and joys.

(548) In the first edition, Hath let; but led in both manuscripts.

(550) In the draft this line reads thus:

With dangerous speed: nor did he sigh and mourn...

In the finished manuscript it was written thus:

On dangerous winds: and so he did not mourn...

and then changed so as to correspond with the text.

Of trumpets at clear parley from the east
Could rouse from that fine relish, that high feast.
They stung the feather'd horse: with fierce alarm
He flapp'd towards the sound. Alas, no charm
Could lift Endymion's head, or he had view'd
A skyey mask, a pinion'd multitude,
And silvery was its passing: voices sweet
Warbling the while as if to lull and greet
The wanderer in his path. Thus warbled they,
While past the vision went in bright array.

555

560

Who, who from Dian's feast would be away?

565

66

For all the golden bowers of the day
Are empty left? Who, who away would be
From Cynthia's wedding and festivity?
Not Hesperus: lo! upon his silver wings
He leans away for highest heaven and sings,
Snapping his lucid fingers merrily! -
Ah, Zephyrus! art here, and Flora too!
Ye tender bibbers of the rain and dew,
Young playmates of the rose and daffodil,
Be careful, ere ye enter in, to fill

Your baskets high

With fennel green, and balm, and golden pines,
Savory, latter-mint, and columbines,

Cool parsley, basil sweet, and sunny thyme;

(554) At this point the draft reads as follows:

Could rouse

{

"Twas like a gift of Prophecy - alert

The feather'd horse he snorted with alarm

And towards it flapp'd away - Alas no charm...

(563) The draft reads thus:

Who, who would absent be from Dian's feast
For all the golden chambers of the East
Are empty left? Who, who away would be
From Cynthia's wedding and festivity?
Who, who would be ?

(569) The draft has two additional lines after this one,

He stay behind - he glad of lazy plea?

Not he! not he!

(573) The draft reads this line thus:

Mind ere ye enter in to oppress and fill...

570

575

(576-7) The word early is cancelled in the finished manuscript before latter mint; and line 577 reads in the draft —

Cool parsley, dripping cresses, sunny thyme.

Yea, every flower and leaf of every clime,
All gather'd in the dewy morning: hie

Away! fly, fly!

Crystalline brother of the belt of heaven,
Aquarius! to whom king Jove has given

580

Two liquid pulse streams 'stead of feather'd wings,

The Star-Queen's crescent on her marriage night:
Haste, haste away! —

590

Castor has tam'd the planet Lion, see!
And of the Bear has Pollux mastery:
A third is in the race! who is the third,
Speeding away swift as the eagle bird?

The ramping Centaur !

595

The Lion's mane's on end: the Bear how fierce!

The Centaur's arrow ready seems to pierce

Some enemy: far forth his bow is bent

Into the blue of heaven. He'll be shent,

Pale unrelentor,

600

When he shall hear the wedding lutes a playing. -
Andromeda sweet woman! why delaying
So timidly among the stars: come hither!

Join this bright throng, and nimbly follow whither
They all are going.

605

Danae's Son, before Jove newly bow'd,
Has wept for thee, calling to Jove aloud.
Thee, gentle lady, did he disenthral :
Ye shall for ever live and love, for all
Thy tears are flowing.

By Daphne's fright, behold Apollo! —”

More

Endymion heard not: down his steed him bore,

Prone to the green head of a misty hill.

610

(584) This was originally a short line consisting of the words Thine illuminings alone. The whole stanza, lines 581 to 590, was sent by Keats to his friend Baily for his "vote, pro or con," in a letter dated the 22nd of November 1817.

(589) The draft reads Night-Queen's for Star-Queen's.

(593) The draft reads Ay three are in the race!

(607-8) The draft reads

calling to Jove aloud

For thee thee gentle did he disenthrall.

His first touch of the earth went nigh to kill.

"Alas!" said he, "were I but always borne

Through dangerous winds, had but my footsteps worn
A path in hell, for ever would I bless
Horrors which nourish an uneasiness

615

For my own sullen conquering: to him

Who lives beyond earth's boundary, grief is dim,
Sorrow is but a shadow: now I see

620

--

who? who

625

The grass; I feel the solid ground - Ah, me!
It is thy voice - divinest! Where?
Left thee so quiet on this bed of dew?
Behold upon this happy earth we are;
Let us aye love each other; let us fare
On forest-fruits, and never, never go
Among the abodes of mortals here below,
Or be by phantoms dup'd. O destiny!
Into a labyrinth now my soul would fly,
But with thy beauty will I deaden it.

630

Where didst thou melt to? By thee will I sit
For ever let our fate stop here
:

a kid

635

I on this spot will offer: Pan will bid
Us live in peace, in love and peace among
His forest wildernesses. I have clung
To nothing, lov'd a nothing, nothing seen
Or felt but a great dream! O I have been
Presumptuous against love, against the sky,
Against all elements, against the tie
Of mortals each to each, against the blooms
Of flowers, rush of rivers, and the tombs

(622) In the draft, this line is —

The real grass, the solid ground — Ah, me!

but in the finished manuscript it is an Alexandrine

The real grass; I feel the solid ground - Ah, me!

The reading of the text is that of the first edition.
(624) The draft has safe upon for quiet on.
(629-30) This couplet stands thus in the draft : -

Or be by phantoms duped. Alas! alas!
Into a labyrinth now my soul would pass,...

640

(632) The finished manuscript and the first edition read too for to; but as the question is repeated in line 668 in the words Whither didst melt, there can be no possible doubt as to the right reading.

(641-3) The draft reads

Of mortals to each other, against the blooms

Of roses, rush of rivers, and the tombs

Of heroes gone! Against its proper glory...