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To a Friend who sent me some Roses

by John Keats, 1817

As late I rambled in the happy fields,
   What time the sky-lark shakes the tremulous dew
   From his lush clover covert;—when anew
Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields:
I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
   A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw
   Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew
As is the wand that queen Titania wields.
And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,
   I thought the garden-rose it far excell'd:
But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me
   My sense with their deliciousness was spell'd:
Soft voices had they, that with tender plea
   Whisper'd of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell'd.

Published in Poems, 1817
Tags: friendship

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