The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 135

Fiordispina and her nurse are now Upon the steps of the high portico, Under the withered arm of Media She flings her glowing arm

... step by step and stair by stair, _55 That withered woman, gray and white and brown-- More like a trunk by lichens overgrown Than anything which once could have been human.

And ever as she goes the palsied woman

'How slow and painfully you seem to walk, _60 Poor Media! you tire yourself with talk.'

'And well it may, Fiordispina, dearest--well-a-day!

You are hastening to a marriage-bed; I to the grave!'--'And if my love were dead, _65 Unless my heart deceives me, I would lie Beside him in my shroud as willingly As now in the gay night-dress Lilla wrought.'

'Fie, child! Let that unseasonable thought Not be remembered till it snows in June; _70 Such fancies are a music out of tune With the sweet dance your heart must keep to-night.

What! would you take all beauty and delight Back to the Paradise from which you sprung, And leave to grosser mortals?-- _75 And say, sweet lamb, would you not learn the sweet And subtle mystery by which spirits meet?

Who knows whether the loving game is played, When, once of mortal [vesture] disarrayed, The naked soul goes wandering here and there _80 Through the wide deserts of Elysian air?

The violet dies not till it'--

NOTES: _11 to 1824; two editions 1839.

_20 e'er 1862; ever editions 1824, 1839.

_25 sea edition 1862; sense editions 1824, 1839.

TIME LONG PAST.

[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870.

This is one of three poems (cf. "Love's Philosophy" and "Good-Night") transcribed by Sh.e.l.ley in a copy of Leigh Hunt's "Literary Pocket-Book"

for 1819 presented by him to Miss Sophia Stacey, December 29, 1820.]

1.

Like the ghost of a dear friend dead Is Time long past.

A tone which is now forever fled, A hope which is now forever past, A love so sweet it could not last, _5 Was Time long past.

2.

There were sweet dreams in the night Of Time long past: And, was it sadness or delight, Each day a shadow onward cast _10 Which made us wish it yet might last-- That Time long past.

3.

There is regret, almost remorse, For Time long past.

'Tis like a child's beloved corse _15 A father watches, till at last Beauty is like remembrance, cast From Time long past.

FRAGMENT: THE DESERTS OF DIM SLEEP.

[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870.]

I went into the deserts of dim sleep-- That world which, like an unknown wilderness, Bounds this with its recesses wide and deep--

FRAGMENT: 'THE VIEWLESS AND INVISIBLE CONSEQUENCE'.

[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870.]

The viewless and invisible Consequence Watches thy goings-out, and comings-in, And...hovers o'er thy guilty sleep, Unveiling every new-born deed, and thoughts More ghastly than those deeds-- _5

FRAGMENT: A SERPENT-FACE.

[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870.]

His face was like a snake's--wrinkled and loose And withered--

FRAGMENT: DEATH IN LIFE.

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

My head is heavy, my limbs are weary, And it is not life that makes me move.

FRAGMENT: 'SUCH HOPE, AS IS THE SICK DESPAIR OF GOOD'.

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

Such hope, as is the sick despair of good, Such fear, as is the certainty of ill, Such doubt, as is pale Expectation's food Turned while she tastes to poison, when the will Is powerless, and the spirit... _5

FRAGMENT: 'ALAS! THIS IS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT LIFE WAS'.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition. This fragment is joined by Forman with that immediately preceding.]

Alas! this is not what I thought life was.

I knew that there were crimes and evil men, Misery and hate; nor did I hope to pa.s.s Untouched by suffering, through the rugged glen.

In mine own heart I saw as in a gla.s.s _5 The hearts of others ... And when I went among my kind, with triple bra.s.s Of calm endurance my weak breast I armed, To bear scorn, fear, and hate, a woful ma.s.s!