The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 3 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 370 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 3.

The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 3 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 370 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 3.

1. 
Dar’st thou amid the varied multitude
To live alone, an isolated thing? 
To see the busy beings round thee spring,
And care for none; in thy calm solitude,
A flower that scarce breathes in the desert rude 5
To Zephyr’s passing wing?

2. 
Not the swart Pariah in some Indian grove,
Lone, lean, and hunted by his brother’s hate,
Hath drunk so deep the cup of bitter fate
As that poor wretch who cannot, cannot love:  10
He bears a load which nothing can remove,
A killing, withering weight.

3. 
He smiles—­’tis sorrow’s deadliest mockery;
He speaks—­the cold words flow not from his soul;
He acts like others, drains the genial bowl,—­ 15
Yet, yet he longs—­although he fears—­to die;
He pants to reach what yet he seems to fly,
Dull life’s extremest goal.

***

TO DEATH.

[Published (without title) by Hogg, “Life of Shelley”, 1858; dated 1810.  Included (under the title, “To Death”) in the Esdaile manuscript book.]

Death! where is thy victory? 
To triumph whilst I die,
To triumph whilst thine ebon wing
Enfolds my shuddering soul? 
O Death! where is thy sting? 5
Not when the tides of murder roll,
When nations groan, that kings may bask in bliss,
Death! canst thou boast a victory such as this—­
When in his hour of pomp and power
His blow the mightiest murderer gave,
10
Mid Nature’s cries the sacrifice
Of millions to glut the grave;
When sunk the Tyrant Desolation’s slave;
Or Freedom’s life-blood streamed upon thy shrine;
Stern Tyrant, couldst thou boast a victory such as mine? 15

To know in dissolution’s void
That mortals’ baubles sunk decay;
That everything, but Love, destroyed
Must perish with its kindred clay,—­
Perish Ambition’s crown, 20
Perish her sceptred sway: 
From Death’s pale front fades Pride’s fastidious frown. 
In Death’s damp vault the lurid fires decay,
That Envy lights at heaven-born Virtue’s beam—­
That all the cares subside,
25
Which lurk beneath the tide
Of life’s unquiet stream;—­
Yes! this is victory! 
And on yon rock, whose dark form glooms the sky,
To stretch these pale limbs, when the soul is fled; 30
To baffle the lean passions of their prey,
To sleep within the palace of the dead! 
Oh! not the King, around whose dazzling throne
His countless courtiers mock the words they say,
Triumphs amid the bud of glory blown,
35
As I in this cold bed, and faint expiring groan!

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 3 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.