Published on Academy of American Poets (https://poets.org)


I cry your mercy—pity—love!—ay, love

To Fanny.

I cry your mercy—pity—love!—ay, love!
  Merciful love that tantalises not
One-thoughted, never-wandering, guileless love,
  Unmask'd, and being seen—without a blot!
O! let me have thee whole,—all—all—be mine!
  That shape, that fairness, that sweet minor zest
Of love, your kiss,—those hands, those eyes divine,
  That warm, white, lucent, million-pleasured breast,—
Yourself—your soul—in pity give me all,
  Withhold no atom's atom or I die,
Or living on, perhaps, your wretched thrall,
  Forget, in the mist of idle misery,
Life's purposes,—the palate of my mind
Losing its gust, and my ambition blind!

Credit


Published in 1819

Author


John Keats

Born in 1795, John Keats was an English Romantic poet and author of three poems considered to be among the finest in the English language

Date Published: 1819-01-01

Source URL: https://poets.org/poem/i-cry-your-mercy-pity-love-ay-love