The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 119

[Published by Medwin, "The Athenaeum", August 25, 1832; reprinted by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839. Our t.i.tle is that of 1839, 2nd edition. The poem is found amongst the Harvard ma.n.u.scripts, headed "To S--th and O--gh".]

1.

As from an ancestral oak Two empty ravens sound their clarion, Yell by yell, and croak by croak, When they scent the noonday smoke Of fresh human carrion:-- _5

2.

As two gibbering night-birds flit From their bowers of deadly yew Through the night to frighten it, When the moon is in a fit, And the stars are none, or few:-- _10

3.

As a shark and dog-fish wait Under an Atlantic isle, For the negro-ship, whose freight Is the theme of their debate, Wrinkling their red gills the while-- _15

4.

Are ye, two vultures sick for battle, Two scorpions under one wet stone, Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle, Two crows perched on the murrained cattle, Two vipers tangled into one. _20

NOTE: _7 yew 1832; hue 1839.

FRAGMENT: TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", 1862.]

People of England, ye who toil and groan, Who reap the harvests which are not your own, Who weave the clothes which your oppressors wear, And for your own take the inclement air; Who build warm houses... _5 And are like G.o.ds who give them all they have, And nurse them from the cradle to the grave...

FRAGMENT: 'WHAT MEN GAIN FAIRLY'.

(Perhaps connected with that immediately preceding (Forman).--ED.)

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]

What men gain fairly--that they should possess, And children may inherit idleness, From him who earns it--This is understood; Private injustice may be general good.

But he who gains by base and armed wrong, _5 Or guilty fraud, or base compliances, May be despoiled; even as a stolen dress Is stripped from a convicted thief; and he Left in the nakedness of infamy.

A NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]

1.

G.o.d prosper, speed,and save, G.o.d raise from England's grave Her murdered Queen!

Pave with swift victory The steps of Liberty, _5 Whom Britons own to be Immortal Queen.

2.

See, she comes throned on high, On swift Eternity!

G.o.d save the Queen! _10 Millions on millions wait, Firm, rapid, and elate, On her majestic state!

G.o.d save the Queen!

3.

She is Thine own pure soul _15 Moulding the mighty whole,-- G.o.d save the Queen!

She is Thine own deep love Rained down from Heaven above,-- Wherever she rest or move, _20 G.o.d save our Queen!

4.

'Wilder her enemies In their own dark disguise,-- G.o.d save our Queen!

All earthly things that dare _25 Her sacred name to bear, Strip them, as kings are, bare; G.o.d save the Queen!

5.

Be her eternal throne Built in our hearts alone-- _30 G.o.d save the Queen!

Let the oppressor hold Canopied seats of gold; She sits enthroned of old O'er our hearts Queen. _35

6.

Lips touched by seraphim Breathe out the choral hymn 'G.o.d save the Queen!'

Sweet as if angels sang, Loud as that trumpet's clang _40 Wakening the world's dead gang,-- G.o.d save the Queen!

SONNET: ENGLAND IN 1819.

[Published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.]

An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,-- Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn,--mud from a muddy spring,-- Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know, But leech-like to their fainting country cling, _5 Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,-- A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,-- An army, which liberticide and prey Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,-- Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay; _10 Religion Christless, G.o.dless--a book sealed; A Senate,--Time's worst statute, unrepealed,-- Are graves from which a glorious Phantom may Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

AN ODE, WRITTEN OCTOBER, 1819, BEFORE THE SPANIARDS HAD RECOVERED THEIR LIBERTY.

[Published with "Prometheus Unbound", 1820.]

Arise, arise, arise!

There is blood on the earth that denies ye bread; Be your wounds like eyes To weep for the dead, the dead, the dead.

What other grief were it just to pay? _5 Your sons, your wives, your brethren, were they; Who said they were slain on the battle day?

Awaken, awaken, awaken!

The slave and the tyrant are twin-born foes; Be the cold chains shaken _10 To the dust where your kindred repose, repose: Their bones in the grave will start and move, When they hear the voices of those they love, Most loud in the holy combat above.

Wave, wave high the banner! _15 When Freedom is riding to conquest by: Though the slaves that fan her Be Famine and Toil, giving sigh for sigh.

And ye who attend her imperial car, Lift not your hands in the banded war, _20 But in her defence whose children ye are.

Glory, glory, glory, To those who have greatly suffered and done!

Never name in story Was greater than that which ye shall have won. _25 Conquerors have conquered their foes alone, Whose revenge, pride, and power they have overthrown Ride ye, more victorious, over your own.

Bind, bind every brow With crownals of violet, ivy, and pine: _30 Hide the blood-stains now With hues which sweet Nature has made divine: Green strength, azure hope, and eternity: But let not the pansy among them be; Ye were injured, and that means memory. _35