Percy Bysshe Shelley

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Said my guide, ‘those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, 235

  ‘Frederick, and Paul, Catherine, and Leopold, And hoary anarchs, demagogues, and sage — names which the world thinks always old,

  ‘For in the battle Life and they did wage,

  She remained conqueror. I was overcome 240

  By my own heart alone, which neither age,

  ‘Nor tears, nor infamy, nor now the tomb

  Could temper to its object.’—’Let them pass,’

  I cried, ‘the world and its mysterious doom

  ‘Is not so much more glorious than it was, 245

  That I desire to worship those who drew

  New figures on its false and fragile glass

  ‘As the old faded.’—’Figures ever new

  Rise on the bubble, paint them as you may;

  We have but thrown, as those before us threw, 250

  ‘Our shadows on it as it passed away.

  But mark how chained to the triumphal chair

  The mighty phantoms of an elder day;

  ‘All that is mortal of great Plato there

  Expiates the joy and woe his master knew not; 255

  The star that ruled his doom was far too fair.

  ‘And life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not,

  Conquered that heart by love, which gold, or pain,

  Or age, or sloth, or slavery could subdue not.

  ‘And near him walk the … twain, 260

  The tutor and his pupil, whom Dominion

  Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.

  ‘The world was darkened beneath either pinion

  Of him whom from the flock of conquerors

  Fame singled out for her thunder-bearing minion; 265

  ‘The other long outlived both woes and wars,

  Throned in the thoughts of men, and still had kept

  The jealous key of Truth’s eternal doors,

  ‘If Bacon’s eagle spirit had not lept

  Like lightning out of darkness — he compelled 270

  The Proteus shape of Nature, as it slept

  ‘To wake, and lead him to the caves that held

  The treasure of the secrets of its reign.

  See the great bards of elder time, who quelled

  ‘The passions which they sung, as by their strain 275

  May well be known: their living melody

  Tempers its own contagion to the vein

  ‘Of those who are infected with it — I

  Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!

  And so my words have seeds of misery — 180

  ‘Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs.’

  And then he pointed to a company,

  ‘Midst whom I quickly recognized the heirs

  Of Caesar’s crime, from him to Constantine;

  The anarch chiefs, whose force and murderous snares 285

  Had founded many a sceptre-bearing line,

  And spread the plague of gold and blood abroad:

  And Gregory and John, and men divine,

  Who rose like shadows between man and God;

  Till that eclipse, still hanging over heaven, 290

  Was worshipped by the world o’er which they strode,

  For the true sun it quenched—’Their power was given

  But to destroy,’ replied the leader:—’I

  Am one of those who have created, even

  ‘If it be but a world of agony.’ — 295

  ‘Whence camest thou? and whither goest thou?

  How did thy course begin?’ I said, ‘and why?

  ‘Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow

  Of people, and my heart sick of one sad thought —

  Speak!’—’Whence I am, I partly seem to know, 300

  ‘And how and by what paths I have been brought

  To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess; —

  Why this should be, my mind can compass not;

  ‘Whither the conqueror hurries me, still less; —

  But follow thou, and from spectator turn 305

  Actor or victim in this wretchedness,

  ‘And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn

  From thee. Now listen: — In the April prime,

  When all the forest-tips began to burn

  ‘With kindling green, touched by the azure clime 310

  Of the young season, I was laid asleep

  Under a mountain, which from unknown time

  ‘Had yawned into a cavern, high and deep;

  And from it came a gentle rivulet,

  Whose water, like clear air, in its calm sweep 315

  ‘Bent the soft grass, and kept for ever wet

  The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove

  With sounds, which whoso hears must needs forget

  ‘All pleasure and all pain, all hate and love,

  Which they had known before that hour of rest; 320

  A sleeping mother then would dream not of

  ‘Her only child who died upon the breast

  At eventide — a king would mourn no more

  The crown of which his brows were dispossessed

  ‘When the sun lingered o’er his ocean floor 325

  To gild his rival’s new prosperity.

  ‘Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore

  ‘Ills, which if ills can find no cure from thee,

  The thought of which no other sleep will quell,

  Nor other music blot from memory, 330

  ‘So sweet and deep is the oblivious spell;

  And whether life had been before that sleep

  The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell

  ‘Like this harsh world in which I woke to weep,

  I know not. I arose, and for a space 335

  The scene of woods and waters seemed to keep,

  Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace

  Of light diviner than the common sun

  Sheds on the common earth, and all the place

  ‘Was filled with magic sounds woven into one 340

  Oblivious melody, confusing sense

  Amid the gliding waves and shadows dun;

  ‘And, as I looked, the bright omnipresence

  Of morning through the orient cavern flowed,

  And the sun’s image radiantly intense 345

  ‘Burned on the waters of the well that glowed

  Like gold, and threaded all the forest’s maze

  With winding paths of emerald fire; there stood

  ‘Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze 350

  Of his own glory, on the vibrating

  Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays,

  ‘A Shape all light, which with one hand did fling

  Dew on the earth, as if she were the dawn,

  And the invisible rain did ever sing

  ‘A silver music on the mossy lawn; 355

  And still before me on the dusky grass,

  Iris her many-coloured scarf had drawn:

  ‘In her right hand she bore a crystal glass,

  Mantling with bright Nepenthe; the fierce splendour

  Fell from her as she moved under the mass 360

  ‘Of the deep cavern, and with palms so tender,

  Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow,

  Glided along the river, and did bend her

  ‘Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow

  Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream 365

  That whispered with delight to be its pillow.

  ‘As one enamoured is upborne in dream

  O’er lily-paven lakes, mid silver mist

  To wondrous music, so this shape might seem

  ‘Partly to tread the waves with feet which kissed 370

  The dancing foam; partly to glide along

  The air which roughened the moist amethyst,

  ‘Or the faint morning beams that fell among

  The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees;

>   And her feet, ever to the ceaseless song 375

  ‘Of leaves, and winds, and waves, and birds, and bees,

  And falling drops, moved in a measure new

  Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze,

  ‘Up from the lake a shape of golden dew

  Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, 380

  Dances i’ the wind, where never eagle flew;

  ‘And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune

  To which they moved, seemed as they moved to blot

  The thoughts of him who gazed on them; and soon

  ‘All that was, seemed as if it had been not; 385

  And all the gazer’s mind was strewn beneath

  Her feet like embers; and she, thought by thought,

  ‘Trampled its sparks into the dust of death

  As day upon the threshold of the east

  Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath 390

  ‘Of darkness re-illumine even the least

  Of heaven’s living eyes — like day she came,

  Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased

  ‘To move, as one between desire and shame

  Suspended, I said — If, as it doth seem, 395

  Thou comest from the realm without a name

  ‘Into this valley of perpetual dream,

  Show whence I came, and where I am, and why —

  Pass not away upon the passing stream.

  ‘Arise and quench thy thirst, was her reply. 400

  And as a shut lily stricken by the wand

  Of dewy morning’s vital alchemy,

  ‘I rose; and, bending at her sweet command,

  Touched with faint lips the cup she raised,

  And suddenly my brain became as sand 405

  ‘Where the first wave had more than half erased

  The track of deer on desert Labrador;

  Whilst the wolf, from which they fled amazed,

  ‘Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore,

  Until the second bursts; — so on my sight 410

  Burst a new vision, never seen before,

  ‘And the fair shape waned in the coming light,

  As veil by veil the silent splendour drops

  From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite

  ‘Of sunrise, ere it tinge the mountain-tops; 415

  And as the presence of that fairest planet,

  Although unseen, is felt by one who hopes

  ‘That his day’s path may end as he began it,

  In that star’s smile, whose light is like the scent

  Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, 420

  ‘Or the soft note in which his dear lament

  The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress

  That turned his weary slumber to content;

  ‘So knew I in that light’s severe excess

  The presence of that Shape which on the stream 425

  Moved, as I moved along the wilderness,

  ‘More dimly than a day-appearing dream,

  The host of a forgotten form of sleep;

  A light of heaven, whose half-extinguished beam

  ‘Through the sick day in which we wake to weep 430

  Glimmers, for ever sought, for ever lost;

  So did that shape its obscure tenour keep

  ‘Beside my path, as silent as a ghost;

  But the new Vision, and the cold bright car,

  With solemn speed and stunning music, crossed 435

  ‘The forest, and as if from some dread war

  Triumphantly returning, the loud million

  Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.

  ‘A moving arch of victory, the vermilion

  And green and azure plumes of Iris had 440

  Built high over her wind-winged pavilion,

  ‘And underneath aethereal glory clad

  The wilderness, and far before her flew

  The tempest of the splendour, which forbade

  ‘Shadow to fall from leaf and stone; the crew 445

  Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance

  Within a sunbeam; — some upon the new

  ‘Embroidery of flowers, that did enhance

  The grassy vesture of the desert, played,

  Forgetful of the chariot’s swift advance; 450

  ‘Others stood gazing, till within the shade

  Of the great mountain its light left them dim;

  Others outspeeded it; and others made

  ‘Circles around it, like the clouds that swim

  Round the high moon in a bright sea of air; 455

  And more did follow, with exulting hymn,

  ‘The chariot and the captives fettered there: —

  But all like bubbles on an eddying flood

  Fell into the same track at last, and were

  ‘Borne onward. — I among the multitude 460

  Was swept — me, sweetest flowers delayed not long;

  Me, not the shadow nor the solitude;

  ‘Me, not that falling stream’s Lethean song;

  Me, not the phantom of that early Form

  Which moved upon its motion — but among 465

  ‘The thickest billows of that living storm

  I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime

  Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.

  ‘Before the chariot had begun to climb

  The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, 470

  Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme

  ‘Of him who from the lowest depths of hell,

  Through every paradise and through all glory,

  Love led serene, and who returned to tell

  ‘The words of hate and awe; the wondrous story 475

  How all things are transfigured except Love;

  For deaf as is a sea, which wrath makes hoary,

  ‘The world can hear not the sweet notes that move

  The sphere whose light is melody to lovers —

  A wonder worthy of his rhyme. — The grove 480

  ‘Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers,

  The earth was gray with phantoms, and the air

  Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers

  ‘A flock of vampire-bats before the glare

  Of the tropic sun, bringing, ere evening, 485

  Strange night upon some Indian isle; — thus were

  ‘Phantoms diffused around; and some did fling

  Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves,

  Behind them; some like eaglets on the wing

  ‘Were lost in the white day; others like elves 490

  Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes

  Upon the sunny streams and grassy shelves;

  ‘And others sate chattering like restless apes

  On vulgar hands,…

  Some made a cradle of the ermined capes 495

  ‘Of kingly mantles; some across the tiar

  Of pontiffs sate like vultures; others played

  Under the crown which girt with empire

  ‘A baby’s or an idiot’s brow, and made

  Their nests in it. The old anatomies 500

  Sate hatching their bare broods under the shade

  ‘Of daemon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes

  To reassume the delegated power,

  Arrayed in which those worms did monarchize,

  ‘Who made this earth their charnel. Others more 505

  Humble, like falcons, sate upon the fist

  Of common men, and round their heads did soar;

  Or like small gnats and flies, as thick as mist

  On evening marshes, thronged about the brow

  Of lawyers, statesmen, priest and theorist; — 510

  ‘And others, like discoloured flakes of snow

  On fairest bosoms and the sunniest hair,

  Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow

  ‘Which they extinguished; and, like tears, they were

  A veil to those from whose fai
nt lids they rained 515

  In drops of sorrow. I became aware

  ‘Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained

  The track in which we moved. After brief space,

  From every form the beauty slowly waned;

  ‘From every firmest limb and fairest face 520

  The strength and freshness fell like dust, and left

  The action and the shape without the grace

  ‘Of life. The marble brow of youth was cleft

  With care; and in those eyes where once hope shone,

  Desire, like a lioness bereft 525

  ‘Of her last cub, glared ere it died; each one

  Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly

  These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown

  ‘In autumn evening from a poplar tree. 530

  Each like himself and like each other were

  At first; but some distorted seemed to be

  ‘Obscure clouds, moulded by the casual air;

  And of this stuff the car’s creative ray

  Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there,

  ‘As the sun shapes the clouds; thus on the way 535

  Mask after mask fell from the countenance

  And form of all; and long before the day

  ‘Was old, the joy which waked like heaven’s glance

  The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died;

  And some grew weary of the ghastly dance, 540

  ‘And fell, as I have fallen, by the wayside; —

  Those soonest from whose forms most shadows passed,

  And least of strength and beauty did abide.

  ‘Then, what is life? I cried.’ —

  CANCELLED OPENING OF THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE.

  [Published by Miss M. Blind, “Westminster Review”, July, 1870.]

  Out of the eastern shadow of the Earth,

  Amid the clouds upon its margin gray

  Scattered by Night to swathe in its bright birth

  In gold and fleecy snow the infant Day,

  The glorious Sun arose: beneath his light, 5

  The earth and all…

  TRANSLATIONS

  CONTENTS

  HYMN TO MERCURY.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO CASTOR AND POLLUX.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO THE MOON.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO THE SUN.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO THE EARTH: MOTHER OF ALL.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO MINERVA.

  HOMER’S HYMN TO VENUS.

  THE CYCLOPS.

  SILENUS. ULYSSES. CHORUS OF SATYRS. THE CYCLOPS.

  EPIGRAMS.

  FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ADONIS.

  FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BION.

  PAN, ECHO, AND THE SATYR.

  FROM VERGIL’S TENTH ECLOGUE.

  FROM VERGIL’S FOURTH GEORGIC.

  SONNET. DANTE ALIGHIERI TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI