POEMS WRITTEN IN 1821
651
MUSIC
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824.]
I
I pant for the music which is divine,
My heart in its thirst is a dying flower;
Pour forth the sound like enchanted wine,
Loosen the notes in a silver shower;
Like a herbless plain, for the gentle rain, 5
I gasp, I faint, till they wake again.
I pant for the music which is divine,
My heart in its thirst is a dying flower;
Pour forth the sound like enchanted wine,
Loosen the notes in a silver shower;
Like a herbless plain, for the gentle rain, 5
I gasp, I faint, till they wake again.
II
Let me drink of the spirit of that sweet sound,
More, oh more,—I am thirsting yet;
It loosens the serpent which care has bound
Upon my heart to stifle it: 10
The dissolving strain, through every vein,
Passes into my heart and brain.
Let me drink of the spirit of that sweet sound,
More, oh more,—I am thirsting yet;
It loosens the serpent which care has bound
Upon my heart to stifle it: 10
The dissolving strain, through every vein,
Passes into my heart and brain.
III
As the scent of a violet withered up,
Which grew by the brink of a silver lake,
When the hot noon has drained its dewy cup, 15
And mist[1] there was none its thirst to slake—
And the violet lay dead while the odour flew
On the wings of the wind o'er the waters blue—
As the scent of a violet withered up,
Which grew by the brink of a silver lake,
When the hot noon has drained its dewy cup, 15
And mist[1] there was none its thirst to slake—
And the violet lay dead while the odour flew
On the wings of the wind o'er the waters blue—
IV
As one who drinks from a charmèd cup
Of foaming, and sparkling, and murmuring wine, 20
Whom, a mighty Enchantress filling up,
Invites to love with her kiss divine . . .
As one who drinks from a charmèd cup
Of foaming, and sparkling, and murmuring wine, 20
Whom, a mighty Enchantress filling up,
Invites to love with her kiss divine . . .
SONNET TO BYRON
[Published by Medwin, The Shelley Papers, 1832 (ll. 1-7), and Life of Shelley, 1847 (ll. 1-9, 12-14). Revised and completed from the Boscombe MS. by Rossetti, Complete P. W. of P. B. S., 1870.]
[I am afraid these verses will not please you, but]
If I esteemed you[2] less, Envy would kill
Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair
The ministration of the thoughts that fill
The mind which, like a worm whose life may share[3]
A portion of the unapproachable, 5
Marks your[4] creations rise as fast and fair
As perfect worlds at the Creator's will.
If I esteemed you[2] less, Envy would kill
Pleasure, and leave to Wonder and Despair
The ministration of the thoughts that fill
The mind which, like a worm whose life may share[3]
A portion of the unapproachable, 5
Marks your[4] creations rise as fast and fair
As perfect worlds at the Creator's will.
