The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Pater Omnipotens

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

FRAGMENT: PATER OMNIPOTENS

[Edited from MS. Shelley E 4 in the Bodleian Library, and published by Mr. C. D. Locock, Examination, &c, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1903. Here placed conjecturally amongst the compositions of 1820, but of uncertain date, and belonging possibly to 1819 or a still earlier year.]

Serene in his unconquerable might
Endued[,] the Almighty King, his steadfast throne
Encompassed unapproachably with power
And darkness and deep solitude and awe
Stood like a black cloud on some aëry cliff 5
Embosoming its lightning—in his sight
Unnumbered glorious spirits trembling stood
Like slaves before their Lord—prostrate around
Heaven's multitudes hymned everlasting praise.