Page:Hellas, a Lyrical Drama - Shelley (1822).djvu/27

Sick with famine:—Freedom, so
To what of Greece remaineth now
Returns; her hoary ruins glow
Like Orient mountains lost in day;
Beneath the safety of her wings
Her renovated nurselings prey,
And in the naked lightnings
Of truth they purge their dazzled eyes.
Let Freedom leave—where’er she flies,
A Desart, or a Paradise:
Let the beautiful and the brave
Share her glory, or a grave.

SEMICHORUS 1st.
With the gifts of gladness
Greece did thy cradle strew;

SEMICHORUS 2d.
With the tears of sadness
Greece did thy shroud bedew!

SEMICHORUS 1st.
With an orphan’s affection
She followed thy bier through Time;

SEMICHORUS 2d.
And at thy resurrection
Re-appeareth, like thou, sublime!

SEMICHORUS 1st.
If Heaven should resume thee,
To Heaven shall her spirit ascend;