The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley - LightNovelsOnl.com
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How sweet it is to sit and read the tales Of mighty poets and to hear the while Sweet music, which when the attention fails Fills the dim pause--
FRAGMENT: THE SEPULCHRE OF MEMORY.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.]
And where is truth? On tombs? for such to thee Has been my heart--and thy dead memory Has lain from childhood, many a changeful year, Unchangingly preserved and buried there.
FRAGMENT: 'WHEN A LOVER CLASPS HIS FAIREST'.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
1.
When a lover clasps his fairest, Then be our dread sport the rarest.
Their caresses were like the chaff In the tempest, and be our laugh His despair--her epitaph! _5
2.
When a mother clasps her child, Watch till dusty Death has piled His cold ashes on the clay; She has loved it many a day-- She remains,--it fades away. _10
FRAGMENT: 'WAKE THE SERPENT NOT'.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
Wake the serpent not--lest he Should not know the way to go,-- Let him crawl which yet lies sleeping Through the deep gra.s.s of the meadow!
Not a bee shall hear him creeping, _5 Not a may-fly shall awaken From its cradling blue-bell shaken, Not the starlight as he's sliding Through the gra.s.s with silent gliding.
FRAGMENT: RAIN.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
The fitful alternations of the rain, When the chill wind, languid as with pain Of its own heavy moisture, here and there Drives through the gray and beamless atmosphere.
FRAGMENT: A TALE UNTOLD.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
One sung of thee who left the tale untold, Like the false dawns which perish in the bursting; Like empty cups of wrought and daedal gold, Which mock the lips with air, when they are thirsting.
FRAGMENT: TO ITALY.
[Published by Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", 1862.]
As the sunrise to the night, As the north wind to the clouds, As the earthquake's fiery flight, Ruining mountain solitudes, Everlasting Italy, _5 Be those hopes and fears on thee.
FRAGMENT: WINE OF THE FAIRIES.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.]
I am drunk with the honey wine Of the moon-unfolded eglantine, Which fairies catch in hyacinth bowls.
The bats, the dormice, and the moles Sleep in the walls or under the sward _5 Of the desolate castle yard; And when 'tis spilt on the summer earth Or its fumes arise among the dew, Their jocund dreams are full of mirth, They gibber their joy in sleep; for few _10 Of the fairies bear those bowls so new!
FRAGMENT: A ROMAN'S CHAMBER.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
1.
In the cave which wild weeds cover Wait for thine aethereal lover; For the pallid moon is waning, O'er the spiral cypress hanging And the moon no cloud is staining. _5
2.
It was once a Roman's chamber, Where he kept his darkest revels, And the wild weeds twine and clamber; It was then a chasm for devils.
FRAGMENT: ROME AND NATURE.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]
Rome has fallen, ye see it lying Heaped in undistinguished ruin: Nature is alone undying.
VARIATION OF THE SONG OF THE MOON.
[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.]
