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

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

FRAGMENT: IGNIGULUS DESIDERII

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W., 1839, 1st ed. This fragment is amongst the Shelley MSS. at the Bodleian. See Mr. C. D. Locock's Examination, &c., 1903, p. 63.]

To thirst and find no fill—to wail and wander
With short unsteady^[1] steps—to pause and ponder—
To feel the blood run through the veins and tingle
Where busy thought and blind sensation mingle;
To nurse the image of unfelt caresses 5
Till dim imagination just possesses
The half-created shadow, then all the night
Sick . . .^[2]

 

1. Igniculus, &c.—2 unsteady B.; uneasy 1839, 1st ed.
2. 7, 8 then . . . . . Sick B.; wanting, 1839, 1st ed.