Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/316

In midmost Ind, beside Hydaspes cool,
There stood, or hover'd, tremulous in the air,
A faery city, 'neath the potent rule
Of Emperor Elfinan; famed ev'rywhere
For love of mortal women, maidens fair,
Whose lips were solid, whose soft hands were made
Of a fit mould and beauty, ripe and rare.
To pamper his slight wooing, warm yet staid:
He lov'd girls smooth as shades, but hated a mere shade.

This was a crime forbidden by the law;
And all the priesthood of his city wept,
For ruin and dismay they well foresaw.
If impious prince no bound or limit kept,
And Faery Zendervester overstept;