NOTES: 
16 mist 1824; tank 1839, 2nd edition.

***

SONNET TO BYRON.

[Published by Medwin, “The Shelley Papers”, 1832 (lines 1-7), and “Life of Shelley”, 1847 (lines 1-9, 12-14).  Revised and completed from the Boscombe manuscript by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.]

[I am afraid these verses will not please you, but]
If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill
Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair
The ministration of the thoughts that fill
The mind which, like a worm whose life may share
A portion of the unapproachable, 5
Marks your creations rise as fast and fair
As perfect worlds at the Creator’s will.

But such is my regard that nor your power
To soar above the heights where others [climb],
Nor fame, that shadow of the unborn hour 10
Cast from the envious future on the time,
Move one regret for his unhonoured name
Who dares these words:—­the worm beneath the sod
May lift itself in homage of the God.

NOTES:  1 you edition 1870; him 1832; thee 1847. 4 So edition 1870; My soul which as a worm may haply share 1832;
   My soul which even as a worm may share 1847.
6 your edition 1870; his 1832; thy 1847. 8, 9 So edition 1870 wanting 1832 —
    But not the blessings of thy happier lot,
    Nor thy well-won prosperity, and fame 1847.
10, 11 So edition 1870; wanting 1832, 1847. 12-14 So 1847, edition 1870; wanting 1832.

***

FRAGMENT ON KEATS.

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Poetical Works”, 1839, 1st edition—­ED.]

ON KEATS, WHO DESIRED THAT ON HIS TOMB SHOULD BE INSCRIBED—­

’Here lieth One whose name was writ on water. 
But, ere the breath that could erase it blew,
Death, in remorse for that fell slaughter,
Death, the immortalizing winter, flew
Athwart the stream,—­and time’s printless torrent grew 5
A scroll of crystal, blazoning the name
Of Adonais!

***

FRAGMENT:  ‘METHOUGHT I WAS A BILLOW IN THE CROWD’.

[Published by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.]

Methought I was a billow in the crowd
Of common men, that stream without a shore,
That ocean which at once is deaf and loud;
That I, a man, stood amid many more
By a wayside..., which the aspect bore 5
Of some imperial metropolis,
Where mighty shapes—­pyramid, dome, and tower—­
Gleamed like a pile of crags—­

***

TO-MORROW.

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824.]

Where art thou, beloved To-morrow? 
When young and old, and strong and weak,
Rich and poor, through joy and sorrow,
Thy sweet smiles we ever seek,—­
In thy place—­ah! well-a-day! 5
We find the thing we fled—­To-day.