The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 175

Unde prius nulli velarint tempora musae.

Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus; et arctis Religionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo.--Lucret. lib. 4.

Dos pon sto, kai kosmon kineso.--Archimedes.

TO HARRIET *****.

Whose is the love that gleaming through the world, Wards off the poisonous arrow of its scorn?

Whose is the warm and partial praise, Virtue's most sweet reward?

Beneath whose looks did my reviving soul _5 Riper in truth and virtuous daring grow?

Whose eyes have I gazed fondly on, And loved mankind the more?

HARRIET! on thine:--thou wert my purer mind; Thou wert the inspiration of my song; _10 Thine are these early wilding flowers, Though garlanded by me.

Then press into thy breast this pledge of love; And know, though time may change and years may roll, Each floweret gathered in my heart _15 It consecrates to thine.

QUEEN MAB.

1.

How wonderful is Death, Death and his brother Sleep!

One, pale as yonder waning moon With lips of lurid blue; The other, rosy as the morn _5 When throned on ocean's wave It blushes o'er the world: Yet both so pa.s.sing wonderful!

Hath then the gloomy Power Whose reign is in the tainted sepulchres _10 Seized on her sinless soul?

Must then that peerless form Which love and admiration cannot view Without a beating heart, those azure veins Which steal like streams along a field of snow, _15 That lovely outline, which is fair As breathing marble, perish?

Must putrefaction's breath Leave nothing of this heavenly sight But loathsomeness and ruin? _20 Spare nothing but a gloomy theme, On which the lightest heart might moralize?

Or is it only a sweet slumber Stealing o'er sensation, Which the breath of roseate morning _25 Chaseth into darkness?

Will Ianthe wake again, And give that faithful bosom joy Whose sleepless spirit waits to catch Light, life and rapture from her smile? _30

Yes! she will wake again, Although her glowing limbs are motionless, And silent those sweet lips, Once breathing eloquence, That might have soothed a tiger's rage, _35 Or thawed the cold heart of a conqueror.

Her dewy eyes are closed, And on their lids, whose texture fine Scarce hides the dark blue orbs beneath, The baby Sleep is pillowed: _40 Her golden tresses shade The bosom's stainless pride, Curling like tendrils of the parasite Around a marble column.

Hark! whence that rushing sound? _45 'Tis like the wondrous strain That round a lonely ruin swells, Which, wandering on the echoing sh.o.r.e, The enthusiast hears at evening: 'Tis softer than the west wind's sigh; _50 'Tis wilder than the unmeasured notes Of that strange lyre whose strings The genii of the breezes sweep: Those lines of rainbow light Are like the moonbeams when they fall _55 Through some cathedral window, but the tints Are such as may not find Comparison on earth.

Behold the chariot of the Fairy Queen!

Celestial coursers paw the unyielding air; _60 Their filmy pennons at her word they furl, And stop obedient to the reins of light: These the Queen of Spells drew in, She spread a charm around the spot, And leaning graceful from the aethereal car, _65 Long did she gaze, and silently, Upon the slumbering maid.

Oh! not the visioned poet in his dreams, When silvery clouds float through the 'wildered brain, When every sight of lovely, wild and grand _70 Astonishes, enraptures, elevates, When fancy at a glance combines The wondrous and the beautiful,-- So bright, so fair, so wild a shape Hath ever yet beheld, _75 As that which reined the coursers of the air, And poured the magic of her gaze Upon the maiden's sleep.

The broad and yellow moon Shone dimly through her form-- _80 That form of faultless symmetry; The pearly and pellucid car Moved not the moonlight's line: 'Twas not an earthly pageant: Those who had looked upon the sight, _85 Pa.s.sing all human glory, Saw not the yellow moon, Saw not the mortal scene, Heard not the night-wind's rush, Heard not an earthly sound, _90 Saw but the fairy pageant, Heard but the heavenly strains That filled the lonely dwelling.

The Fairy's frame was slight, yon fibrous cloud, That catches but the palest tinge of even, _95 And which the straining eye can hardly seize When melting into eastern twilight's shadow, Were scarce so thin, so slight; but the fair star That gems the glittering coronet of morn, Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, _100 As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, Yet with an undulating motion, Swayed to her outline gracefully.

From her celestial car _105 The Fairy Queen descended, And thrice she waved her wand Circled with wreaths of amaranth: Her thin and misty form Moved with the moving air, _110 And the clear silver tones, As thus she spoke, were such As are unheard by all but gifted ear.

FAIRY: 'Stars! your balmiest influence shed!

Elements! your wrath suspend! _115 Sleep, Ocean, in the rocky bounds That circle thy domain!

Let not a breath be seen to stir Around yon gra.s.s-grown ruin's height, Let even the restless gossamer _120 Sleep on the moveless air!

Soul of Ianthe! thou, Judged alone worthy of the envied boon, That waits the good and the sincere; that waits Those who have struggled, and with resolute will _125 Vanquished earth's pride and meanness, burst the chains, The icy chains of custom, and have shone The day-stars of their age;--Soul of Ianthe!

Awake! arise!'

Sudden arose _130 Ianthe's Soul; it stood All beautiful in naked purity, The perfect semblance of its bodily frame.

Instinct with inexpressible beauty and grace, Each stain of earthliness _135 Had pa.s.sed away, it rea.s.sumed Its native dignity, and stood Immortal amid ruin.

Upon the couch the body lay Wrapped in the depth of slumber: _140 Its features were fixed and meaningless, Yet animal life was there, And every organ yet performed Its natural functions: 'twas a sight Of wonder to behold the body and soul. _145 The self-same lineaments, the same Marks of ident.i.ty were there: Yet, oh, how different! One aspires to Heaven, Pants for its sempiternal heritage, And ever-changing, ever-rising still, _150 Wantons in endless being.

The other, for a time the unwilling sport Of circ.u.mstance and pa.s.sion, struggles on; Fleets through its sad duration rapidly: Then, like an useless and worn-out machine, _155 Rots, perishes, and pa.s.ses.

FAIRY: 'Spirit! who hast dived so deep; Spirit! who hast soared so high; Thou the fearless, thou the mild, Accept the boon thy worth hath earned, _160 Ascend the car with me.'

SPIRIT: 'Do I dream? Is this new feeling But a visioned ghost of slumber?

If indeed I am a soul, A free, a disembodied soul, _165 Speak again to me.'

FAIRY: 'I am the Fairy MAB: to me 'tis given The wonders of the human world to keep: The secrets of the immeasurable past, In the unfailing consciences of men, _170 Those stern, unflattering chroniclers, I find: The future, from the causes which arise In each event, I gather: not the sting Which retributive memory implants In the hard bosom of the selfish man; _175 Nor that ecstatic and exulting throb Which virtue's votary feels when he sums up The thoughts and actions of a well-spent day, Are unforeseen, unregistered by me: And it is yet permitted me, to rend _180 The veil of mortal frailty, that the spirit, Clothed in its changeless purity, may know How soonest to accomplish the great end For which it hath its being, and may taste That peace, which in the end all life will share. _185 This is the meed of virtue; happy Soul, Ascend the car with me!'

The chains of earth's immurement Fell from Ianthe's spirit; They shrank and brake like bandages of straw _190 Beneath a wakened giant's strength.

She knew her glorious change, And felt in apprehension uncontrolled New raptures opening round: Each day-dream of her mortal life, _195 Each frenzied vision of the slumbers That closed each well-spent day, Seemed now to meet reality.

The Fairy and the Soul proceeded; The silver clouds disparted; _200 And as the car of magic they ascended, Again the speechless music swelled, Again the coursers of the air Unfurled their azure pennons, and the Queen Shaking the beamy reins _205 Bade them pursue their way.

The magic car moved on.

The night was fair, and countless stars Studded Heaven's dark blue vault,-- Just o'er the eastern wave _210 Peeped the first faint smile of morn:-- The magic car moved on-- From the celestial hoofs The atmosphere in flaming sparkles flew, And where the burning wheels _215 Eddied above the mountain's loftiest peak, Was traced a line of lightning.

Now it flew far above a rock, The utmost verge of earth, The rival of the Andes, whose dark brow _220 Lowered o'er the silver sea.

Far, far below the chariot's path, Calm as a slumbering babe, Tremendous Ocean lay.

The mirror of its stillness showed _225 The pale and waning stars, The chariot's fiery track, And the gray light of morn Tinging those fleecy clouds That canopied the dawn. _230 Seemed it, that the chariot's way Lay through the midst of an immense concave, Radiant with million constellations, tinged With shades of infinite colour, And semicircled with a belt _235 Flashing incessant meteors.

The magic car moved on.

As they approached their goal The coursers seemed to gather speed; The sea no longer was distinguished; earth _240 Appeared a vast and shadowy sphere; The sun's unclouded orb Rolled through the black concave; Its rays of rapid light Parted around the chariot's swifter course, _245 And fell, like ocean's feathery spray Dashed from the boiling surge Before a vessel's prow.

The magic car moved on.

Earth's distant orb appeared _250 The smallest light that twinkles in the heaven; Whilst round the chariot's way Innumerable systems rolled, And countless spheres diffused An ever-varying glory. _255 It was a sight of wonder: some Were horned like the crescent moon; Some shed a mild and silver beam Like Hesperus o'er the western sea; Some dashed athwart with trains of flame, _260 Like worlds to death and ruin driven; Some shone like suns, and, as the chariot pa.s.sed, Eclipsed all other light.

Spirit of Nature! here!

In this interminable wilderness _265 Of worlds, at whose immensity Even soaring fancy staggers, Here is thy fitting temple.

Yet not the lightest leaf That quivers to the pa.s.sing breeze _270 Is less instinct with thee: Yet not the meanest worm That lurks in graves and fattens on the dead Less shares thy eternal breath.

Spirit of Nature! thou! _275 Imperishable as this scene, Here is thy fitting temple.

2.

If solitude hath ever led thy steps To the wild Ocean's echoing sh.o.r.e, And thou hast lingered there, Until the sun's broad orb Seemed resting on the burnished wave, _5 Thou must have marked the lines Of purple gold, that motionless Hung o'er the sinking sphere: Thou must have marked the billowy clouds Edged with intolerable radiancy _10 Towering like rocks of jet Crowned with a diamond wreath.

And yet there is a moment, When the sun's highest point Peeps like a star o'er Ocean's western edge, _15 When those far clouds of feathery gold, Shaded with deepest purple, gleam Like islands on a dark blue sea; Then has thy fancy soared above the earth, And furled its wearied wing _20 Within the Fairy's fane.

Yet not the golden islands Gleaming in yon flood of light, Nor the feathery curtains Stretching o'er the sun's bright couch, _25 Nor the burnished Ocean waves Paving that gorgeous dome, So fair, so wonderful a sight As Mab's aethereal palace could afford.

Yet likest evening's vault, that faery Hall! _30 As Heaven, low resting on the wave,it spread Its floors of flashing light, Its vast and azure dome, Its fertile golden islands Floating on a silver sea; _35 Whilst suns their mingling beamings darted Through clouds of circ.u.mambient darkness, And pearly battlements around Looked o'er the immense of Heaven.