The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 117

NOTES: _3 Who B.; Or 1870.

_6 Marenghi's 1870; Mazenghi's B.

_7 town 1870; sea B.

_8 ruined 1870; squalid B. ('the whole line is cancelled,' Loc.o.c.k).

_11 threw 1870; cancelled, B.

_17 A Sacrament more B.; At Sacrament: more 1870.

_18 mid B.; with 1870.

_19 forests when... B.; forests. 1870.

_23, _24 that band Of free and glorious brothers who had 1870; omitted, B.

_25 a 1870; one B.

_27 wise, just--do they 1870; omitted, B.

_28 Does 1870; Doth B. prey 1870; spoil B.

_33 angel 1824; Herald [?] B.

_34 to welcome thee 1824; cancelled for... by thee B.

_42 direst 1824; Desert B.

_45 sits amid 1824 amid cancelled for soils (?) B.

_53-_57 Albert...sent B.; omitted 1824, 1870. Albert cancelled B.: Pietro is the correct name.

_53 Marenghi]Mazenghi B.

_55 farm doubtful: perh. fame (Loc.o.c.k).

_62 he 1824; thus B.

_70 Amid the mountains 1824; Mid desert mountains [?] B.

_71 toil, and cold]cold and toil editions 1824, 1839.

_92, _93 And... there B. (see Editor's Note); White bones, and locks of dun and yellow hair, And ringed horns which buffaloes did wear-- 1870.

_94 at the utmost point 1870; cancelled for when (where?) B.

_95 reed B.; weed 1870.

_99 after B.; upon 1870.

_100 burned within Marenghi's breast B.; lived within Marenghi's heart 1870.

_101 and B.; or 1870.

_103 free B.; the 1870.

_109 freshes B.; omitted, 1870.

_118 by 1870; with B.

_119 dew-globes B.; dewdrops 1870.

_120 languished B.; vanished 1870.

_121 path, as on [bare] B.; footprints, as on 1870.

_122 silver B.; silence 1870.

_130 And in the moonless nights 1870; cancelled, B. dun B.; dim 1870.

_131 Heaved 1870; cancelled, B. wide B.; the 1870. star-impearled B.; omitted, 1870.

_132 Starting from dreams 1870; cancelled for He B.

_137 autumn B.; autumnal 1870.

_138 or B.; and 1870.

_155 pennon B.; pennons 1870.

_158 athwart B.; across 1870.

SONNET.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.

Our text is that of the "Poetical Works", 1839.]

Lift not the painted veil which those who live Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there, And it but mimic all we would believe With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave _5 Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.

I knew one who had lifted it--he sought, For his lost heart was tender, things to love But found them not, alas! nor was there aught The world contains, the which he could approve. _10 Through the unheeding many he did move, A splendour among shadows, a bright blot Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

NOTES: _6 Their...drear 1839; The shadows, which the world calls substance, there 1824.

_7 who had lifted 1839; who lifted 1824.

FRAGMENT: TO BYRON.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", 1862.]

O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age Shakes like a reed in the unheeding storm, Why dost thou curb not thine own sacred rage?

FRAGMENT: APOSTROPHE TO SILENCE.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", 1862. A transcript by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, given to Charles Cowden Clarke, presents one or two variants.]

Silence! Oh, well are Death and Sleep and Thou Three brethren named, the guardians gloomy-winged Of one abyss, where life, and truth, and joy Are swallowed up--yet spare me, Spirit, pity me, Until the sounds I hear become my soul, _5 And it has left these faint and weary limbs, To track along the lapses of the air This wandering melody until it rests Among lone mountains in some...

NOTES: _4 Spirit 1862; O Spirit C.C.C. ma.n.u.script.

_8 This wandering melody 1862; These wandering melodies... C.C.C. ma.n.u.script.

FRAGMENT: THE LAKE'S MARGIN.

[Published by W.M. Rossetti, 1870.]

The fierce beasts of the woods and wildernesses Track not the steps of him who drinks of it; For the light breezes, which for ever fleet Around its margin, heap the sand thereon.

FRAGMENT: 'MY HEAD IS WILD WITH WEEPING'.

[Published by W.M. Rossetti, 1870.]

My head is wild with weeping for a grief Which is the shadow of a gentle mind.

I walk into the air (but no relief To seek,--or haply, if I sought, to find; It came unsought);--to wonder that a chief _5 Among men's spirits should be cold and blind.

NOTE: _4 find cj. A.C. Bradley.