Lines On The Mermaid Tavern

by John Keats

    Souls of Poets dead and gone,
    What Elysium have ye known,
    Happy field or mossy cavern,
    Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?
    Have ye tippled drink more fine
    Than mine host’s Canary wine?
    Or are fruits of Paradise
    Sweeter than those dainty pies
    Of venison? O generous food!
    Drest as though bold Robin Hood
    Would, with his maid Marian,
    Sup and bowse from horn and can.

    I have heard that on a day
    Mine host’s sign-board flew away,
    Nobody knew whither, till
    An astrologer’s old quill
    To a sheepskin gave the story,
    Said he saw you in your glory,
    Underneath a new old sign
    Sipping beverage divine,
    And pledging with contented smack
    The Mermaid in the Zodiac.

    Souls of Poets dead and gone,
    What Elysium have ye known,
    Happy field or mossy cavern,
    Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?