and now for something completely different...

I'm pretty picky about poetry, but I came across this today in one of those rambling Google experiences...started out in the NY Times review of the Year in Art, went on to look for pictures of Damien Hirst's works, back to the art review where there was a mention of the NY Public Library's auction of Asher B. Durand's "Kindred Spirits". Didn't know what that was, so I Googled it. Found this page, where the history of the painting (turned out that's what it was) was explained. In the explanation was a quote from this poem by John Keats. I like it, so here it is for your enjoyment:

TO SOLITUDE
O SOLITUDE! If I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; - climb with me the steep,
Nature's Observatory - whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes - its rivers crystal swell,
May seem a span: let me thy vigils keep
'Mongst boughs pavilioned; where the Deer's swift leap
Startles the wild Bee from the Fox-glove bell.
Ah! fain would I frequent such scenes with thee;
But the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,
Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be
Almost the highest bliss of human kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.
-John Keats, 1795-1821