420. On the Grasshopper and Cricket by John Keats
J Keats read by Classic Poetry Aloud: Giving voice to the poetry of the past.\nwww.classicpoetryaloud.com\n\n--------------------------------------------\n\n On the Grasshopper and the Cricket\nby John Keats (1795\u20131821)\n\nThe poetry of earth is never dead:\n When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,\n And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run\nFrom hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;\nThat is the Grasshopper\u2019s\u2014he takes the lead\n In summer luxury,\u2014he has never done\n With his delights; for when tired out with fun\nHe rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.\nThe poetry of earth is ceasing never:\n On a lone winter evening, when the frost\n Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills\nThe Cricket\u2019s song, in warmth increasing ever,\n And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,\n The Grasshopper\u2019s among some grassy hills.\n\n\nDecember 30, 1816.\n\nFirst aired: 4 February 2009\n\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2009