The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/To Edward Williams
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TO EDWARD WILLIAMS
[Published in Ascham's edition of the Poems, 1834. There is a copy amongst the Trelawny MSS.]
I
The serpent is shut out from Paradise.
The wounded deer must seek the herb no more
In which its heart-cure lies:
The widowed dove must cease to haunt a bower
Like that from which its mate with feigned sighs 5
Fled in the April horn.
I too must seldom seek again
Near happy friends a mitigated pain.
The serpent is shut out from Paradise.
The wounded deer must seek the herb no more
In which its heart-cure lies:
The widowed dove must cease to haunt a bower
Like that from which its mate with feigned sighs 5
Fled in the April horn.
I too must seldom seek again
Near happy friends a mitigated pain.
II
Of hatred I am proud,—with scorn content;
Indifference, that once hurt me, now is grown[1] 10
Itself indifferent;
But, not to speak of love, pity alone
Can break a spirit already more than bent.
The miserable one
Turns the mind's poison into food,— 15
Its medicine is tears,—its evil good.
Of hatred I am proud,—with scorn content;
Indifference, that once hurt me, now is grown[1] 10
Itself indifferent;
But, not to speak of love, pity alone
Can break a spirit already more than bent.
The miserable one
Turns the mind's poison into food,— 15
Its medicine is tears,—its evil good.
III
Therefore, if now I see you seldomer.
Dear friends, dear friend![2] know that I only fly
Your looks, because they stir
Griefs that should sleep, and hopes that cannot die: 20
The very comfort that they minister
I scarce can bear, yet I,
So deeply is the arrow gone,
Should quickly perish if it were withdrawn.
Therefore, if now I see you seldomer.
Dear friends, dear friend![2] know that I only fly
Your looks, because they stir
Griefs that should sleep, and hopes that cannot die: 20
The very comfort that they minister
I scarce can bear, yet I,
So deeply is the arrow gone,
Should quickly perish if it were withdrawn.
IV
When I return to my cold home, you ask 25
Why I am not as I have ever[3] been.
You spoil me for the task
Of acting a forced part in[4] life's dull scene,—
Of wearing on my brow the idle mask
Of author, great or mean, 30
In the world's carnival. I sought
Peace thus, and but in you I found it not.
When I return to my cold home, you ask 25
Why I am not as I have ever[3] been.
You spoil me for the task
Of acting a forced part in[4] life's dull scene,—
Of wearing on my brow the idle mask
Of author, great or mean, 30
In the world's carnival. I sought
Peace thus, and but in you I found it not.
V
Full half an hour, to-day, I tried my lot
With various flowers, and every one still said,
'She loves me—loves me not.' 35
And if this meant a vision long since fled—
If it meant fortune, fame, or peace of thought—
If it meant,—but I dread
To speak what you may know too well:
Still there was truth in the sad oracle. 40
Full half an hour, to-day, I tried my lot
With various flowers, and every one still said,
'She loves me—loves me not.' 35
And if this meant a vision long since fled—
If it meant fortune, fame, or peace of thought—
If it meant,—but I dread
To speak what you may know too well:
Still there was truth in the sad oracle. 40
VI
The crane o'er seas and forests seeks her home;
No bird so wild but has its quiet nest,
When[5] it no more would roam;
The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast
Break like a bursting heart, and die in foam, 45
And thus at length find rest:
Doubtless there is a place of peace
Where my weak heart and all its throbs will[6] cease.
The crane o'er seas and forests seeks her home;
No bird so wild but has its quiet nest,
When[5] it no more would roam;
The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast
Break like a bursting heart, and die in foam, 45
And thus at length find rest:
Doubtless there is a place of peace
Where my weak heart and all its throbs will[6] cease.
VII
I asked her, yesterday, if she believed
That I had resolution. One who had 50
Would ne'er have thus relieved
His heart with words,—but what his judgement bade
Would do, and leave the scorner unrelieved[7] .
These verses are[8] too sad
To send to you, but that I know, 55
Happy yourself, you feel another's woe.
I asked her, yesterday, if she believed
That I had resolution. One who had 50
Would ne'er have thus relieved
His heart with words,—but what his judgement bade
Would do, and leave the scorner unrelieved[7] .
These verses are[8] too sad
To send to you, but that I know, 55
Happy yourself, you feel another's woe.
- ↑ To Edward Williams—10 Indifference, which once hurt me, is now grown Trelawny MS.
- ↑ 18 Dear friends, dear friend Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; Dear gentle friend 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
- ↑ 26 ever] lately Trelawny MS.
- ↑ 28 in Trelawny MS.; on 1834, edd. 1839.
- ↑ 43 When 1839, 2nd ed.; Whence 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
- ↑ 48 will 1839, 2nd ed.; shall 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
- ↑ 53 unrelieved Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed. unreprieved 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
- ↑ 54 are] were Trelawny MS.