The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/‘A gentle story of two lovers young’
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FRAGMENT: 'A GENTLE STORY OF TWO LOVERS YOUNG'
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839, 2nd ed.]
A gentle story of two lovers young,
Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung
Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow
The lore of truth from such a tale? 5
Or in this world's deserted vale,
Do ye not see a star of gladness
Pierce the shadows of its sadness,—
When ye are cold,[1] that love is a light sent
From Heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the innocent? 10
Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung
Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow
The lore of truth from such a tale? 5
Or in this world's deserted vale,
Do ye not see a star of gladness
Pierce the shadows of its sadness,—
When ye are cold,[1] that love is a light sent
From Heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the innocent? 10
- ↑ A Gentle Story 9 cold] told cj. A. C. Bradley. For the metre cp. Fragment: To a Friend, etc., p. 544.