The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/To Emilia Viviani
II
Send the stars light, but send not love to me,
In whom love ever made
Health like a heap of embers soon to fade—
TO EMILIA VIVIANI
[Published, i. by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824; ii. 1 by Dr. Garnett, Relics of Shelley, 1862; ii. 2, 3 by H. Buxton Forman, P. W. of P. B. S., 1876.]
I
Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me
Sweet-basil and mignonette?
Embleming love and health, which never yet
In the same wreath might be.
Alas, and they are wet! 5
Is it with thy kisses or thy tears?
For never rain or dew
Such fragrance drew
From plant or flower—the very doubt endears
My sadness ever new. 10
The sighs I breathe, the tears I shed for thee.
Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me
Sweet-basil and mignonette?
Embleming love and health, which never yet
In the same wreath might be.
Alas, and they are wet! 5
Is it with thy kisses or thy tears?
For never rain or dew
Such fragrance drew
From plant or flower—the very doubt endears
My sadness ever new. 10
The sighs I breathe, the tears I shed for thee.
II
Send the stars light, but send not love to me,
In whom love ever made
Health like a heap of embers soon to fade—