The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/To Constantia
TO CONSTANTIA
[Dated 1817 by Mrs. Shelley, and printed by her in the Poetical Works, 1839, 1st edition. A copy exists amongst the Shelley MSS. at the Bodleian. See Mr. C. D. Locock's Examination, &c., 1903, p. 46.]
I
The rose[1] that drinks the fountain dew
In the pleasant[2] air of noon,
Grows pale and blue with altered hue—
In the gaze of the nightly moon;
For the planet of frost, so cold and bright,5
Makes it wan with her[3] borrowed light.
The rose[1] that drinks the fountain dew
In the pleasant[2] air of noon,
Grows pale and blue with altered hue—
In the gaze of the nightly moon;
For the planet of frost, so cold and bright,5
Makes it wan with her[3] borrowed light.
II
Such is my heart—roses are fair,
And that at best a withered blossom;
But thy false care did idly wear
Its withered leaves in a faithless bosom;10
And fed with love, like air and dew,
Its growth——
Such is my heart—roses are fair,
And that at best a withered blossom;
But thy false care did idly wear
Its withered leaves in a faithless bosom;10
And fed with love, like air and dew,
Its growth——