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POEMS WRITTEN IN 1820
IV
Under the bowers55
Where the Ocean Powers
Sit on their pearlèd thrones;
Through the coral woods
Of the weltering floods,
Over heaps of unvalued stones;60
Through the dim beams
Which amid the streams
Weave a network of coloured light;
And under the caves,
Where the shadowy waves65
Are as green as the forest's night:—
Outspeeding the shark,
And the sword-fish dark,
Under the Ocean's[1] foam,
And up through the rifts70
Of the mountain clifts
They passed to their Dorian home.
Under the bowers55
Where the Ocean Powers
Sit on their pearlèd thrones;
Through the coral woods
Of the weltering floods,
Over heaps of unvalued stones;60
Through the dim beams
Which amid the streams
Weave a network of coloured light;
And under the caves,
Where the shadowy waves65
Are as green as the forest's night:—
Outspeeding the shark,
And the sword-fish dark,
Under the Ocean's[1] foam,
And up through the rifts70
Of the mountain clifts
They passed to their Dorian home.
V
And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the morning basks,75
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep80
In the cave of the shelving hill;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel,
And at night they sleep85
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore;—
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more.90
And now from their fountains
In Enna's mountains,
Down one vale where the morning basks,75
Like friends once parted
Grown single-hearted,
They ply their watery tasks.
At sunrise they leap
From their cradles steep80
In the cave of the shelving hill;
At noontide they flow
Through the woods below
And the meadows of asphodel,
And at night they sleep85
In the rocking deep
Beneath the Ortygian shore;—
Like spirits that lie
In the azure sky
When they love but live no more.90
SONG OF PROSERPINE
WHILE GATHERING FLOWERS ON THE PLAIN OF ENNA
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 1st ed. There is a fair draft amongst the Shelley MSS. at the Bodleian Library. See Mr. C. D. Locock's Examination, &c., 1903, p. 24.]
I
Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth,
Thou from whose immortal bosom
Gods, and men, and beasts have birth,
Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom,
Breathe thine influence most divine5
On thine own child, Proserpine.
Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth,
Thou from whose immortal bosom
Gods, and men, and beasts have birth,
Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom,
Breathe thine influence most divine5
On thine own child, Proserpine.
II
If with mists of evening dew
Thou dost nourish these young flowers
Till they grow, in scent and hue,
Fairest children of the Hours,10
Breathe thine influence most divine
On thine own child, Proserpine.
If with mists of evening dew
Thou dost nourish these young flowers
Till they grow, in scent and hue,
Fairest children of the Hours,10
Breathe thine influence most divine
On thine own child, Proserpine.
HYMN OF APOLLO
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824. There is a fair draft amongst the Shelley MSS. at the Bodleian. See Mr. C.D. Locock's Examination, &c., 1903, p. 25.]
I
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie,
Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes,—
The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie,
Curtained with star-inwoven tapestries
From the broad moonlight of the sky,
Fanning the busy dreams from my dim eyes,—
- ↑ Ocean's B.; ocean 1824.
