Sonnet: Written Upon The Top Of Ben Nevis

by John Keats

    Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud
    Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist!
    I look into the chasms, and a shroud
    Vapourous doth hide them, just so much I wist
    Mankind do know of hell; I look o'erhead,
    And there is sullen mist, even so much
    Mankind can tell of heaven; mist is spread
    Before the earth, beneath me, even such,
    Even so vague is man's sight of himself!
    Here are the craggy stones beneath my feet,
    Thus much I know that, a poor witless elf,
    I tread on them, that all my eye doth meet
    Is mist and crag, not only on this height,
    But in the world of thought and mental might!