The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,285 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete.

The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,285 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete.
Sweet star!  When wearied Nature sinks to sleep,
And all is hushed,—­all, save the voice of Love,
Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast
Of soft Favonius, which at intervals 10
Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but
Lulling the slaves of interest to repose
With that mild, pitying gaze?  Oh, I would look
In thy dear beam till every bond of sense
Became enamoured—­ 15

***

TO MARY WHO DIED IN THIS OPINION.

[Published by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870; dated 1810-11.]

1. 
Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow
Struggling in thine haggard eye: 
Firmness dare to borrow
From the wreck of destiny;
For the ray morn’s bloom revealing 5
Can never boast so bright an hue
As that which mocks concealing,
And sheds its loveliest light on you.

2. 
Yet is the tie departed
Which bound thy lovely soul to bliss? 10
Has it left thee broken-hearted
In a world so cold as this? 
Yet, though, fainting fair one,
Sorrow’s self thy cup has given,
Dream thou’lt meet thy dear one,
Never more to part, in Heaven.
15

3. 
Existence would I barter
For a dream so dear as thine,
And smile to die a martyr
On affection’s bloodless shrine. 20
Nor would I change for pleasure
That withered hand and ashy cheek,
If my heart enshrined a treasure
Such as forces thine to break.

***

A TALE OF SOCIETY AS IT IS:  FROM FACTS, 1811.

[Published (from Esdaile manuscript with title as above) by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.  Rossetti’s title is “Mother and Son".]

1. 
She was an aged woman; and the years
Which she had numbered on her toilsome way
Had bowed her natural powers to decay. 
She was an aged woman; yet the ray
Which faintly glimmered through her starting tears, 5
Pressed into light by silent misery,
Hath soul’s imperishable energy. 
She was a cripple, and incapable
To add one mite to gold-fed luxury: 
And therefore did her spirit dimly feel
10
That poverty, the crime of tainting stain,
Would merge her in its depths, never to rise again.

2. 
One only son’s love had supported her. 
She long had struggled with infirmity,
Lingering to human life-scenes; for to die, 15
When fate has spared to rend some mental tie,
Would many wish, and surely fewer dare. 
But, when the tyrant’s bloodhounds forced the child
For his cursed power unhallowed arms to wield—­
Bend to another’s will—­become a thing
20
More senseless than the sword of battlefield—­
Then did she feel keen sorrow’s keenest sting;
And many years had passed ere comfort they would bring.

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