The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 130

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition. There is a fair draft amongst the Sh.e.l.ley ma.n.u.scripts at the Bodleian Library. See Mr. C.D. Loc.o.c.k's "Examination," etc., 1903, page 24.]

1.

Sacred G.o.ddess, Mother Earth, Thou from whose immortal bosom G.o.ds, and men, and beasts have birth, Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom, Breathe thine influence most divine _5 On thine own child, Proserpine.

2.

If with mists of evening dew Thou dost nourish these young flowers Till they grow, in scent and hue, Fairest children of the Hours, _10 Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child, Proserpine.

HYMN OF APOLLO.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824. There is a fair draft amongst the Sh.e.l.ley ma.n.u.scripts at the Bodleian. See Mr. C.D.

Loc.o.c.k's "Examination", etc., 1903, page 25.]

1.

The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie, Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries From the broad moonlight of the sky, Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes,-- Waken me when their Mother, the gray Dawn, _5 Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone.

2.

Then I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome, I walk over the mountains and the waves, Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam; My footsteps pave the clouds with fire; the caves _10 Are filled with my bright presence, and the air Leaves the green Earth to my embraces bare.

3.

The sunbeams are my shafts, with which I kill Deceit, that loves the night and fears the day; All men who do or even imagine ill _15 Fly me, and from the glory of my ray Good minds and open actions take new might, Until diminished by the reign of Night.

4.

I feed the clouds, the rainbows and the flowers With their aethereal colours; the moon's globe _20 And the pure stars in their eternal bowers Are cinctured with my power as with a robe; Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may s.h.i.+ne Are portions of one power, which is mine.

5.

I stand at noon upon the peak of Heaven, _25 Then with unwilling steps I wander down Into the clouds of the Atlantic even; For grief that I depart they weep and frown: What look is more delightful than the smile With which I soothe them from the western isle? _30

6.

I am the eye with which the Universe Beholds itself and knows itself divine; All harmony of instrument or verse, All prophecy, all medicine is mine, All light of art or nature;--to my song _35 Victory and praise in its own right belong.

NOTES: _32 itself divine]it is divine B.

_34 is B.; are 1824.

_36 its cj. Rossetti, 1870, B.; their 1824.

HYMN OF PAN.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824. There is a fair draft amongst the Sh.e.l.ley ma.n.u.scripts at the Bodleian. See Mr. C.D.

Loc.o.c.k's "Examination", etc., 1903, page 25.]

1.

From the forests and highlands We come, we come; From the river-girt islands, Where loud waves are dumb Listening to my sweet pipings. _5 The wind in the reeds and the rushes, The bees on the bells of thyme, The birds on the myrtle bushes, The cicale above in the lime, And the lizards below in the gra.s.s, _10 Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, Listening to my sweet pipings.

2.

Liquid Peneus was flowing, And all dark Tempe lay In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing _15 The light of the dying day, Speeded by my sweet pipings.

The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns, And the Nymphs of the woods and the waves, To the edge of the moist river-lawns, _20 And the brink of the dewy caves, And all that did then attend and follow, Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo, With envy of my sweet pipings.

3.

I sang of the dancing stars, _25 I sang of the daedal Earth, And of Heaven--and the giant wars, And Love, and Death, and Birth,-- And then I changed my pipings,-- Singing how down the vale of Maenalus _30 I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed.

G.o.ds and men, we are all deluded thus!

It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed: All wept, as I think both ye now would, If envy or age had not frozen your blood, _35 At the sorrow of my sweet pipings.

NOTE: _5, _12 Listening to]Listening B.

THE QUESTION.

[Published by Leigh Hunt (with the signature Sigma) in "The Literary Pocket-Book", 1822. Reprinted by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824. Copies exist in the Harvard ma.n.u.script book, amongst the Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.scripts, and amongst Ollier ma.n.u.scripts.]

1.

I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way, Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay _5 Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.

2.

There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth, _10 The constellated flower that never sets; Faint oxslips; tender bluebells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets-- Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth-- Its mother's face with Heaven's collected tears, _15 When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears.

3.

And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured may, And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine Was the bright dew, yet drained not by the day; _20 And wild roses, and ivy serpentine, With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold, Fairer than any wakened eyes behold.

4.

And nearer to the river's trembling edge _25 There grew broad flag-flowers, purple pranked with white.

And starry river buds among the sedge, And floating water-lilies, broad and bright, Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge With moonlight beams of their own watery light; _30 And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.

5.

Methought that of these visionary flowers I made a nosegay, bound in such a way That the same hues, which in their natural bowers _35 Were mingled or opposed, the like array Kept these imprisoned children of the Hours Within my hand,--and then, elate and gay, I hastened to the spot whence I had come, That I might there present it!--Oh! to whom? _40

NOTES: _14 Like...mirth Harvard ma.n.u.script, Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; wanting in Ollier ma.n.u.script, 1822, 1824, 1839.

_15 Heaven's collected Harvard ma.n.u.script, Ollier ma.n.u.script, 1822; Heaven-collected 1824, 1839.

THE TWO SPIRITS: AN ALLEGORY.

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

FIRST SPIRIT: O thou, who plumed with strong desire Wouldst float above the earth, beware!

A Shadow tracks thy flight of fire-- Night is coming!

Bright are the regions of the air, _5 And among the winds and beams It were delight to wander there-- Night is coming!

SECOND SPIRIT: The deathless stars are bright above; If I would cross the shade of night, _10 Within my heart is the lamp of love, And that is day!

And the moon will smile with gentle light On my golden plumes where'er they move; The meteors will linger round my flight, _15 And make night day.