A FINAL paean to blue (though not blue butterflies) from the pen of John Keats in reply to a sonnet by J H Reynolds, ending "Dark eyes are dearer far/Than those that made the hyacinthine bell."

BLUE! 'TIS THE LIFE OF HEAVEN

Blue! 'Tis the life of heaven, - the domain

Of Cynthia, - the wide palace of the sun, -

The tent of Hesperus, and all his train, -

The bosomer of clouds, gold, gray, and dun.

Blue! 'Tis the life of waters, - ocean,

And all its vassal streams, pools numberless

May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can

Subside, if not to dark blue nativeness.

Blue! Gentle cousin of the forest green,

Married to green in all the sweetest flowers,

Forget-me-not, - the blue-bell, and, that queen

Of secrecy, the violet; what strange powers

Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great,

When in an eye thou art alive with fate!