Page:The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems.djvu/570

XIV
By all the hate which checks a father's love—
By all the scorn which kills a father's care—
By those most impious hands which dared remove 55
Nature's high bounds—by thee—and by despair—

XV
Yes, the despair which bids a father groan,
And cry, 'My children are no longer mine—
The blood within those^[1] veins may be mine own,
But—Tyrant—their polluted souls are thine;— 60

XVI
I curse thee—though I hate thee not.—O slave!
If thou couldst quench the earth-consuming Hell
Of which thou art a daemon, on thy grave
This curse should be a blessing. Fare thee well!

 

TO WILLIAM SHELLEY

[Published by Mrs. Shelley (i, v, vi), P. W., 1839, 1st ed.; in full, P. W., 1839, 2nd ed. A transcript is extant in Mrs. Shelley's hand.]

I
The billows on the beach^[2] are leaping around it,
The bark is weak and frail,
The sea looks black, and the clouds that bound it
Darkly strew the gale.
Come with me, thou delightful child, 5
Come with me, though the wave is wild,
And the winds are loose, we must not stay,
Or the slaves of the law^[3] may rend thee away.

II
They have taken thy brother and sister dear,
They have made them unfit for thee; 10
They have withered the smile and dried the tear
Which should have been sacred to me.
To a blighting faith and a cause of crime
They have bound them slaves in youthly prime^[4],
And they will curse my name and thee 15
Because we fearless are^[5] and free.

III
Come thou, beloved as thou art;
Another sleepeth still
Near thy sweet mother's anxious heart,
Which thou with joy shalt^[6] fill, 20

1. those] their Fa.
2. on the beach omitted 1839, 1st ed.
3. of the law 1839, 1st ed.; of law 1839, 2nd ed.
4. prime transcript; time edd. 1839.
5. fearless are edd. 1839; are fearless transcript.
6. shalt transcript; wilt edd. 1839.