Page:The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems.djvu/666

As to oblivion their blind millions fleet,
Staining that Heaven with obscene imagery
Of their own likeness. What are numbers knit
By force or custom? Man who man would be, 10
Must rule the empire of himself; in it
Must be supreme, establishing his throne
On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy
Of hopes and fears, being himself alone.

 

THE AZIOLA

[Published by Mrs. Shelley in The Keepsake, 1829.]

I
'Do you not hear the Aziola cry?
Methinks she must be nigh,'
Said Mary, as we sate
In dusk, ere stars^[1] were lit, or candles brought;
And I, who thought 5
This Aziola was some tedious woman,
Asked, 'Who is Aziola?' How elate
I felt to know that it was nothing human,
No mockery of myself to fear or^[2] hate:
And Mary saw my soul, 10
And laughed, and said, 'Disquiet yourself not;
'Tis nothing but a little downy owl.'

II
Sad Aziola! many an eventide
Thy music I had heard
By wood and stream, meadow and mountain-side, 15
And fields and marshes wide,—
Such as nor voice, nor lute, nor wind, nor bird,
The soul ever stirred:
Unlike and far sweeter than them^[3] all.
Sad Aziola! from that moment I 20
Loved thee and thy sad cry.

 

A LAMENT

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824]

I
O world! life! time!
On whose last steps I climb.
Trembling at that where I had stood before;
When will return the glory of your prime?
No more-Oh, never more! 5

II
Out of the day and night
A joy has taken flight;

1. The Aziola—4 ere stars] ere the stars edd. 1839.
2. 9 or] and edd. 1839.
3. 19 them] they edd. 1839.