"No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
   Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
   By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
      Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
   Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
      Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
   For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
      And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall
   Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
   And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
   Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
      Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
   Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
      And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
   And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
   Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
   Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
      Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
   Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,
      And be among her cloudy trophies hung."

Artwork
Beauty that must die 2009
29.5 x 47.25 x 31.5 inches / 75x120x80
Steel, water, glass and lighting / in ferro, acqua, vetro e illuminazione
Gregorio Botta
L’opera è ispirata dalla tomba di Keats al Cimitero Acattolico di Roma. Sulla lapide il poeta non volle il suo nome, ma questo epitaffio: Here lies on whose name was writ in water

Poem
Ode on Melancholy
John Keats

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Artists and Poems: Italy 2021

Artists
Paola Banfi Sacconi, Eva Basile, Marina Bindella, Gregorio Botta, Francesco Cervelli, Marco Colazzo, Marzia Corteggiani, Gianfranco D'Alonzo, Paolo Di Capua, Elisabetta Diamanti, Paola Fonticoli, John David O'Brien, Toti M. O'Brien, Elisa Ottaviani, Ernesto Porcari, Lydia Predominato, Fernando Rea, Beatrice Scarpato, Mario Tomasello

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