Ode on Melancholy
John Keats. 1785–1821
1.

NO, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
  Wolfs-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,    5
  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.   10
 
2.

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,   15
  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.   20
 
3.

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   25
  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 shall taste the sadness of her might,
    And be among her cloudy trophies hung.   30

John Keats 1785–1821

Keats wrote this poem, as well as the other four odes, in the spring and autumn of 1819-- when he was 23 years old and 2 years before his death.   He started out as an apothecary (藥劑師), but then decided to to a poet.  Not including his juvernile work, his writing career spanned only four years.  (Stillinger 1)


Notes:
1.1: Lethe -- 遺忘河
l.2-3: Wolfs-bane -- 附子草; nightshade -- 龍葵; both refer to poisonous plants here. Proserpine -- 地獄神Pluto之妻﹒
1.4: yew-berries -- yew 紫杉﹐often planted in the graveyard.  It has red berries as fruit.
1. 6: Beetle: often placed on Egytians' tombs to symbolize resurrection.  Moths: represent dying man's soul and fly out of his mouth.
Together with beetle and death-moth, all of the images above are associated with death or oblivion--and traditionally--with melancholy.

Stillinger, Jack, ed.  Twentieth Century Interpretations of Keats's Odes.  NY: Prentice Hall, 1968.