Gianciotto découvre Paolo et Francesca: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1819
Recurrence (April 1819)
She moves in next door, we huddle over
The doomed infatuated ones in Dante,
My blood over-heats, the world-wind blows,
She looks pale as Millamant the Sunday
We dine, and our fate is sealed; like a recurrence
Of fate dream, she moves in, we linger
Together over Dante, and when as not
Quite lovers we hurtle off into
The black light storm, I feel like I can't breathe;
By the end of April, wild desire's
Escaped the world, with its hundred eyes;
Ahead lies loving her, and the pale fever.
From Junkets on a Sad Planet: Scenes from the Life of John Keats by Tom Clark
