The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 146

NOTES: _7 lorn Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; poor edition 1824.

_23 So Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; Dim object of soul's idolatry edition 1824.

_24 star Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; wanting edition 1824.

_38 gra.s.s fresh Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; fresh gra.s.s edition 1824.

_46 like Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; as edition 1824.

_68 air and sun Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script; sun and air edition 1824.

THE MAGNETIC LADY TO HER PATIENT.

[Published by Medwin, "The Athenaeum", August 11, 1832.

There is a copy amongst the Trelawny ma.n.u.scripts.]

1.

'Sleep, sleep on! forget thy pain; My hand is on thy brow, My spirit on thy brain; My pity on thy heart, poor friend; And from my fingers flow _5 The powers of life, and like a sign, Seal thee from thine hour of woe; And brood on thee, but may not blend With thine.

2.

'Sleep, sleep on! I love thee not; _10 But when I think that he Who made and makes my lot As full of flowers as thine of weeds, Might have been lost like thee; And that a hand which was not mine _15 Might then have charmed his agony As I another's--my heart bleeds For thine.

3.

'Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber of The dead and the unborn _20 Forget thy life and love; Forget that thou must wake forever; Forget the world's dull scorn; Forget lost health, and the divine Feelings which died in youth's brief morn; _25 And forget me, for I can never Be thine.

4.

'Like a cloud big with a May shower, My soul weeps healing rain On thee, thou withered flower! _30 It breathes mute music on thy sleep Its odour calms thy brain!

Its light within thy gloomy breast Spreads like a second youth again.

By mine thy being is to its deep _35 Possessed.

5.

'The spell is done. How feel you now?'

'Better--Quite well,' replied The sleeper.--'What would do _39 You good when suffering and awake?

What cure your head and side?--'

'What would cure, that would kill me, Jane: And as I must on earth abide Awhile, yet tempt me not to break My chain.' _45

NOTES; _1, _10 Sleep Trelawny ma.n.u.script, 1839, 2nd edition; Sleep on 1832, 1839, 1st edition.

_16 charmed Trelawny ma.n.u.script; chased 1832, editions 1839.

_21 love]woe 1832.

_42 so Trelawny ma.n.u.script 'Twould kill me what would cure my pain 1832, editions 1839.

_44 Awhile yet, cj. A.C. Bradley.

LINES: 'WHEN THE LAMP IS SHATTERED'.

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

There is a copy amongst the Trelawny ma.n.u.scripts.]

1.

When the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead-- When the cloud is scattered The rainbow's glory is shed.

When the lute is broken, _5 Sweet tones are remembered not; When the lips have spoken, Loved accents are soon forgot.

2.

As music and splendour Survive not the lamp and the lute, _10 The heart's echoes render No song when the spirit is mute:-- No song but sad dirges, Like the wind through a ruined cell, Or the mournful surges _15 That ring the dead seaman's knell.

3.

When hearts have once mingled Love first leaves the well-built nest; The weak one is singled To endure what it once possessed. _20 O Love! who bewailest The frailty of all things here, Why choose you the frailest For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

4.

Its pa.s.sions will rock thee _25 As the storms rock the ravens on high; Bright reason will mock thee, Like the sun from a wintry sky.

From thy nest every rafter Will rot, and thine eagle home _30 Leave thee naked to laughter, When leaves fall and cold winds come.

NOTES: _6 tones edition 1824; notes Trelawny ma.n.u.script.

_14 through edition 1824; in Trelawny ma.n.u.script.

_16 dead edition 1824; lost Trelawny ma.n.u.script.

_23 choose edition 1824; chose Trelawny ma.n.u.script.

_25-_32 wanting Trelawny ma.n.u.script.

TO JANE: THE INVITATION.

[This and the following poem were published together in their original form as one piece under the t.i.tle, "The Pine Forest of the Cascine near Pisa", by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824; reprinted in the same shape, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition; republished separately in their present form, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition. There is a copy amongst the Trelawny ma.n.u.scripts.]

Best and brightest, come away!

Fairer far than this fair Day, Which, like thee to those in sorrow, Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow To the rough Year just awake _5 In its cradle on the brake.

The brightest hour of unborn Spring, Through the winter wandering, Found, it seems, the halcyon Morn To h.o.a.r February born, _10 Bending from Heaven, in azure mirth, It kissed the forehead of the Earth, And smiled upon the silent sea, And bade the frozen streams be free, And waked to music all their fountains, _15 And breathed upon the frozen mountains, And like a prophetess of May Strewed flowers upon the barren way, Making the wintry world appear Like one on whom thou smilest, dear. _20

Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs-- To the silent wilderness Where the soul need not repress Its music lest it should not find _25 An echo in another's mind, While the touch of Nature's art Harmonizes heart to heart.

I leave this notice on my door For each accustomed visitor:-- _30 'I am gone into the fields To take what this sweet hour yields;-- Reflection, you may come to-morrow, Sit by the fireside with Sorrow.-- You with the unpaid bill, Despair,-- You, tiresome verse-reciter, Care,-- _35 I will pay you in the grave,-- Death will listen to your stave.

Expectation too, be off!

To-day is for itself enough; _40 Hope, in pity mock not Woe With smiles, nor follow where I go; Long having lived on thy sweet food, At length I find one moment's good After long pain--with all your love, _45 This you never told me of.'

Radiant Sister of the Day, Awake! arise! and come away!

To the wild woods and the plains, And the pools where winter rains _50.

Image all their roof of leaves, Where the pine its garland weaves Of sapless green and ivy dun Round stems that never kiss the sun; Where the lawns and pastures be, _55 And the sandhills of the sea;-- Where the melting h.o.a.r-frost wets The daisy-star that never sets, And wind-flowers, and violets, Which yet join not scent to hue, _60 Crown the pale year weak and new; When the night is left behind In the deep east, dun and blind, And the blue noon is over us, And the mult.i.tudinous _65 Billows murmur at our feet, Where the earth and ocean meet, And all things seem only one In the universal sun.

NOTES: _34 with Trelawny ma.n.u.script; of 1839, 2nd edition.

_44 moment's Trelawny ma.n.u.script; moment 1839, 2nd edition.

_50 And Trelawny ma.n.u.script; To 1839, 2nd edition.

_53 dun Trelawny ma.n.u.script; dim 1839, 2nd edition.

TO JANE: THE RECOLLECTION.