POEMS WRITTEN IN 1819
579
FRAGMENT: 'FOLLOW TO THE DEEP WOOD'S WEEDS'
[Published by Dr. Garnett, Relics of Shelley, 1862.]
Follow to the deep wood's weeds,
Follow to the wild-briar dingle,
Where we seek to intermingle,
And the violet tells her tale
To the odour-scented gale, 5
For they two have enough to do
Of such work as I and you.
Follow to the wild-briar dingle,
Where we seek to intermingle,
And the violet tells her tale
To the odour-scented gale, 5
For they two have enough to do
Of such work as I and you.
THE BIRTH OF PLEASURE
[Published by Dr. Garnett, Relics of Shelley, 1862.]
At the creation of the Earth
Pleasure, that divinest birth,
From the soil of Heaven did rise,
Wrapped in sweet wild melodies—
Like an exhalation wreathing 5
To the sound of air low-breathing
Through Aeolian pines, which make
A shade and shelter to the lake
Whence it rises soft and slow;
Her life-breathing [limbs] did flow 10
In the harmony divine
Of an ever-lengthening line
Which enwrapped her perfect form
With a beauty clear and warm.
Pleasure, that divinest birth,
From the soil of Heaven did rise,
Wrapped in sweet wild melodies—
Like an exhalation wreathing 5
To the sound of air low-breathing
Through Aeolian pines, which make
A shade and shelter to the lake
Whence it rises soft and slow;
Her life-breathing [limbs] did flow 10
In the harmony divine
Of an ever-lengthening line
Which enwrapped her perfect form
With a beauty clear and warm.
FRAGMENT: LOVE THE UNIVERSE TO-DAY
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839, 1st ed.]
And who feels discord now or sorrow?
Love is the universe to-day—
These are the slaves of dim to-morrow,
Darkening Life's labyrinthine way.
Love is the universe to-day—
These are the slaves of dim to-morrow,
Darkening Life's labyrinthine way.
FRAGMENT: 'A GENTLE STORY OF TWO LOVERS YOUNG'
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839, 2nd ed.]
A gentle story of two lovers young,
Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung
Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow
The lore of truth from such a tale? 5
Or in this world's deserted vale,
Do ye not see a star of gladness
Pierce the shadows of its sadness,—
When ye are cold,[1] that love is a light sent
From Heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the innocent? 10
Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung
Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow
The lore of truth from such a tale? 5
Or in this world's deserted vale,
Do ye not see a star of gladness
Pierce the shadows of its sadness,—
When ye are cold,[1] that love is a light sent
From Heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the innocent? 10
FRAGMENT: LOVE'S TENDER ATMOSPHERE
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839, 2nd ed.]
There is a warm and gentle atmosphere
About the form of one we love, and thus
As in a tender mist our spirits are
Wrapped in theof that which is to us
The health of life's own life— 5
About the form of one we love, and thus
As in a tender mist our spirits are
Wrapped in theof that which is to us
The health of life's own life— 5
- ↑ A Gentle Story 9 cold] told cj. A. C. Bradley. For the metre cp. Fragment: To a Friend, etc., p. 544.
