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

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

For works with similar titles, see Remembrance.

REMEMBRANCE

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824, where it is entitled A Lament. Three MS. copies are extant: The Trelawny MS. (Remembrance), the Harvard MS. (Song) and the Houghton MS.—the last written by Shelley on a flyleaf of a copy of Adonais.]

I
Swifter far than summer's flight—
Swifter far than youth's delight—
Swifter far than happy night,
Art thou come and gone—
As the earth when leaves are dead, 5
As the night when sleep is sped,
As the heart when joy is fled,^[1]
I am left lone, alone.

II
The swallow summer comes again—
The owlet night resumes her reign—
But the wild-swan youth is fain 11
To fly with thee, false as thou.—
My heart each day desires the morrow;^[2]
Sleep itself is turned to sorrow;
Vainly would my winter borrow 15
Sunny leaves from any bough,

III
Lilies for a bridal bed—
Roses for a matron's head—
Violets for a maiden dead—
Pansies let my flowers be:^[3] 20
On the living grave I bear
Scatter them without a tear—
Let no friend, however dear,
Waste one hope, one fear^[4] for me.

 

1. Remembrance—5-7 So edd. 1824, 1839, Trelawny MS., Harvard MS.; As the wood when leaves are shed, As the night when sleep is fled, As the heart when joy is dead Houghton MS.
2. 13 So edd. 1824, 1839, Harvard MS., Houghton MS.; My heart to-day desires to-morrow Trelawny MS.
3. 20 So edd. 1824, 1839, Harvard MS., Houghton MS.; Sadder flowers find for me Trelawny MS.
4. 24 one hope, one fear] a hope, a fear Trelawny MS.