And waked to music all their fountains, Strew'd flowers upon the barren way, Away, away, from men and towns, Where the soul need not repress While the touch of Nature's art Radiant Sister of the Day Billows murmur at our feet, Where the earth and ocean meet, And all things seem only one In the universal Sun. P. B. Shelley CCLX THE RECOLLECTION WOW the last day of many days NOW All beautiful and bright as thou, The loveliest and the last, is dead, Rise, Memory, and write its praise ! Up, do thy wonted work! come, trace The epitaph of glory fled, For now the Earth has changed its face, A frown is on the Heaven's brow. We wander'd to the Pine Forest The whispering waves were half asleep, The smile of Heaven lay; It seem'd as if the hour were one We paused amid the pines that stood Tortured by storms to shapes as rude And soothed by every azure breath Now all the tree-tops lay asleep How calm it was! - the silence there By such a chain was bound, That even the busy woodpecker Made stiller by her sound The inviolable quietness; The breath of peace we drew To the soft flower beneath our feet A spirit interfused around, A thrilling silent life; To momentary peace it bound Our mortal nature's strife; And still I felt the centre of The magic circle there Was one fair Form that fill'd with love The lifeless atmosphere. We paused beside the pools that lie Under the forest bough; Each seem'd as 't were a little sky Gulf'd in a world below; A firmament of purple light Which in the dark earth lay, More boundless than the depth of night And purer than the day In which the lovely forests grew As in the upper air, More perfect both in shape and hue Than any spreading there. There lay the glade and neighbouring lawn, Out of a speckled cloud. Sweet views which in our world above Can never well be seen Were imaged by the water's love An atmosphere without a breath, A softer day below. Like one beloved, the scene had lent To the dark water's breast Its every leaf and lineament With more than truth exprest; Like an unwelcome thought Blots one dear image out. — Though Thou art ever fair and kind, The forests ever green, Less oft is peace in Shelley's mind Than calm in waters seen! P. B. Shelley CCLXI BY THE SEA T is a beauteous evening, calm and free; The holy time is quiet as a mun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun The gentleness of heaven is on the Sea : Dear child! dear girl! that walkest with me here, Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the CCLXII TO THE EVENING STAR TAR that bringest home the bee, bourer free! If any star shed peace, 't is Thou That send'st it from above, Appearing when Heaven's breath and brow Are sweet as hers we love, Come to the luxuriant skies, Whilst the landscape's odours rise, |