To Keats

That I, an unknown poet at the best,
Would feel so strong the pull of Imagery
To scribble out these lines before I rest
‘Pon reading of your life and poesy

Seems strange. I’ve often felt a gossamer
Connection to your life — invisible
The cords that bind two Menschen einsamer
Are chords in vacuum played, inaudible.

Your life cut short when you were twenty-six
The ripe old age at which I pen these lines
Your language rich with metaphors and tricks
A quantum leap above these scrawls of mine.

Tonight, I wished that I could cease to be,
But Keats restored my faith with poetry.

— Stace Johnson, 1991