May 2020
Author's Note: By mid-August 1820, Keats was convinced by physicians that his only hope of recovery would be to
winter in Italy. In October, when his ship arrived in the bay of Naples, he was quarantined for 10 days over fears of
typhus originating in London.
Keats In the Bay of Naples Dying
All around—in the air, in the bell
deeps of the admiral-blue sea—
about the bodies of the fairest
reflections of shoreline mixing—
the most sensual then, glistening,
O the simplest breezes shimmered
in expectation, caresses of noonlight,
glances on waves, and in all things
the delirium of days.
©2020 Michael Gessner
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