O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell by John Keats

Poem first published in The Examiner in 1816.

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 river’s crystal swell,   
     May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep   
     ‘Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.
But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,   
     Yet 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.