After Dorothy

after dinner we walked to Loughrigg

the falls very fine, after a flood

of tears my heart eased, Wm not well

went to bed at half past seven

I ironed all day until three, very hot

walked to Rydale to gather mosses

the coppice wood turns brown, Coleridge

not well, great boils on his neck

gathered peas, baked a giblet pie

Coleridge didn’t eat to cure the boils

Wm lay down until five, we walked

halfway to Keswick, met the Lloyds

for tea, Wm wrote in the sheepfold

asked for late dinner, was unproductive

we walked to Ambleside, rock soft

as velvet, letter to dear C., Sally’s

learning her marks, noisy hail & wind

toothache all night, the lake beautiful

in moonlight, we rowed to Stanley’s

supped, rowed back at ten past one

the morning rainy, mended stockings

for dinner pork from the Simpsons

headache eased, Wm & I walked

with Tom to John’s Grove, Tom & I

to home, Wm still among the rocks

Coleridge came at eleven, Wm asleep

we sate talking until half past three

Endymion [excerpt]

John Keats

Nor do we merely feel these essences            
For one short hour; no, even as the trees  
That whisper round a temple become soon  
Dear as the temple’s self, so does the moon,  
The passion poesy, glories infinite,  
Haunt us till they become a cheering light            
Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast,  
That, whether there be shine, or gloom o’ercast,  

They alway must be with us, or we die.