Poem by John Keats

* * *

TUNE – “Julia to the Wood Robin”

1

Stay, ruby breasted warbler, stay,
And let me see thy sparkling eye;
Oh brush not yet the pearl strung spray,
Nor bow thy pretty head to fly.

2

Stay while I tell thee, fluttering thing,
That thou of love an emblem art;
Yes! patient plume thy little wing,
Whilst I my thoughts to thee impart.

3

When summer nights the dews bestow,
And summer suns enrich the day,
Thy notes the blossoms charm to blow,
Each opes delighted at thy lay.

4

So when in youth the eye’s dark glance
Speaks pleasure from its circle bright,
The tones of love our joys enhance,
And make superiour each delight.

5

And when bleak storms resistless rove,
And ev’ry rural bliss destroy,
Nought comforts then the leafless grove
But thy soft note – its only joy.

6

E’en so the words of love beguile,
When pleasure’s tree no longer bears,
And draw a soft endearing smile,
Amid the gloom of grief and tears. 

1. Song Written on a Blank Page in Beaumont and Fletcher's Works between 'Cupid's Revenge' and 'The Two Noble Kinsmen'
2. Song (“I had a dove and the sweet dove died”)
3. Fragment of an Ode to Maia
4. A Spenserian Stanza
5. Sweet, Sweet Is the Greeting of Eyes

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