On the Sale By Auction of Keats' Love Letters

These are the letters which Endymion wrote
    To one he loved in secret, and apart.
    And now the brawlers of the auction mart
Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,
Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote
    The merchant’s price. I think they love not art
    Who break the crystal of a poet’s heart
That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.

Is it not said that many years ago,
    In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran
    With torches through the midnight, and began
To wrangel for mean raiment, and to throw
    Dice for the garments of a wretched man,
Not knowing the God’s wonder, or His woe?

Credit

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on August 18, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“On the Sale By Auction of Keats’ Love Letters” was published in the January 23, 1886, issue of Dramatic Review