Class J9t Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT fft Copyright, igio By Thomas Y. Crovvell & Co. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. ©CU2683 JANUARY JANUARY FIRST ' I S HE world's great age begins anew, -*■ The golden years return, The earth doth like a snake renew Her winter weeds outworn. JANUARY SECOND When the power of imparting joy- Is equal to the will, the human soul Requires no other heaven. Hellas. <$ueen Mab. JANUARY THIRD Man who man would be, Must rule the empire of himself; in it Must be supreme, establishing his throne On vanquished will, quelling the anarchy Of hopes and fears, being himself alone. JANUARY FOURTH 'Twere sweet 'Mid stars and lightnings to abide, And winds and lulling snows, that beat [ i ] Sonnet. With their soft flakes the mountain wide, When weary meteor lamps repose, And languid storms their pinions close: And all things strong and bright and pure, And ever during, aye endure : Who knows, if one were buried there, But these things might our spirits make, Amid the all-surrounding air, Their own eternity partake ? Rosalind and Helen. JANUARY FIFTH I know That Love makes all things equal : I have heard By mine own heart this joyous truth averred : The spirit of the worm beneath the sod In love and worship, blends itself with God. Epipsychidion. JANUARY SIXTH O, for Medea's wondrous alchymy, Which wheresoe'er it fell made the earth gleam With bright flowers, and the wintry boughs exhale From vernal blooms fresh fragrance ! Alastor. JANUARY SEVENTH Yet, human Spirit, bravely hold thy course, Let virtue teach thee firmly to pursue The gradual paths of an aspiring change : [ 2] For birth, and life, and death, and that strange state Before the naked soul has found its home, All tend to perfect happiness, and urge The restless wheels of being on their way, Whose flashing spokes, instinct with infinite life, Bicker and burn to gain their destined goal. Queen Mab. JANUARY EIGHTH The beauty of delight makes lovers glad, Gazing on one another. Prometheus Unbound. JANUARY NINTH I touch thy temples pale, I breathe my soul on thee ! And, could my prayers avail, All my joy should be Dead, and I would live to weep, So thou mightst win one hour of quiet sleep. Hellas. JANUARY TENTH Man is of soul and body, formed for deeds Of high resolve, on fancy's boldest wing To soar unwearied, fearlessly to turn The keenest pangs to peacefulness, and taste The joys which mingled sense and spirit yield. Queen Mab. [3] JANUARY ELEVENTH True love in this differs from gold and clay, That to divide is not to take away. Love is like understanding, that grows bright Gazing on many truths; 't is like thy light, Imagination ! which, from earth and sky, And from the depths of human fantasy, As from a thousand prisms and mirrors, fills The Universe with glorious beams. Epipsychidion. JANUARY TWELFTH Every sight And sound from the vast earth and ambient air, Sent to his heart its choicest impulses, and all of great, Or good, or lovely, which the sacred past In truth or fable consecrates, he felt And knew. JANUARY THIRTEENTH Learn to make others happy. Alastor. Queen Mab. JANUARY FOURTEENTH The lightning is his slave; heaven's utmost deep Gives up her stars, and like a flock of sheep They pass before his eye, are numbered, and roll on ! [4] The tempest is his steed, he strides the air And the abyss shouts from her depth laid bare, Heaven, hast thou secrets? Man unveils me; I have none. Prometheus Unbound. JANUARY FIFTEENTH Life may change, but it may fly not: Hope may vanish, but can die not; Truth be veiled, but still it burneth; Love repulsed, — but it returneth. Hellas. JANUARY SIXTEENTH Some say that gleams of a remoter world Visit the soul in sleep — that death is slumber — And that its shapes the busy thoughts outnumber Of those who wake and live. Mont Blanc. JANUARY SEVENTEENTH Art and eloquence, And all the shows o' the world are frail and vain To weep a loss that turns their light to shade. It is a woe too "deep for tears," when all Is reft at once, when some surpassing Spirit, Whose light adorned the world around it, leaves Those who remain behind, nor sobs nor groans, The passionate tumult of a clinging hope : [5] But pale despair and cold tranquillity, Nature's vast frame, the web of human things, Birth and the grave, that are not as they were. Alastor, JANUARY EIGHTEENTH Wrap thy form in a mantle grey, Star-inwrought ! Blind with thine hair the eyes of day, Kiss her until she be wearied out, Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land, Touching all with thine opiate wand — Come, long sought! To Night. JANUARY NINETEENTH Language is a perpetual orphic song, Which rules with Daedal harmony a throng Of thoughts and forms, which else senseless and shapeless were. Prometheus Unbound. JANUARY TWENTIETH Every heart contains perfection's germ. Queen Mab. [6] JANUARY TWENTY-FIRST O human Spirit ! spur thee to the goal Where virtue fixes universal peace, And midst the ebb and flow of human things o Show somewhat stable, somewhat certain still, A lighthouse o'er the wild of dreary waves. Queen Mab. JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND If you divide pleasure and love and thought, Each part exceeds the whole; and we know not How much, while any yet remains unshared, Of pleasure may be gained, of sorrow shared. Epipsychidion. JANUARY TWENTY-THIRD The universe, In nature's silent eloquence, declares That all fulfil the works of love and joy. Queen Mab. JANUARY TWENTY-FOURTH In lonely glens, amid the roar of rivers, When the dim nights were moonless, have I known Joys which no tongue can tell ; my pale lip quivers When thought revisits them. Revolt of Islam. [7] JANUARY TWENTY-FIFTH All sufficing Nature can chastise Those who transgress her law, — she only knows How justly to proportion to the fault The punishment it merits. Queen Mab. JANUARY TWENTY-SIXTH The blasts of autumn drive the winged seeds Over the earth, — next come the snows, and rain, And frosts, and storms, which dreary winter leads Out of his Scythian cave, a savage train. Revolt of Islam. JANUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH Chameleons feed on light and air; Poets' food is love and fame. If in this wide world of care Poets could but find the same With as little toil as they, Would they ever change their hue As the light chameleons do, Suiting it to every ray Twenty times a day ? An Exhortation. JANUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH All love is sweet, Given or returned. Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever. Prometheus Unbound. [8] JANUARY TWENTY-NINTH Familiar acts are beautiful through love. Prometheus Unbound. JANUARY THIRTIETH The wilderness has a mysterious tongue Which teaches awful doubt, or faith so mild, So solemn, so serene, that man may be But for such faith with nature reconciled. Mont Blanc. JANUARY THIRTY-FIRST Virtue and wisdom, truth and liberty, They alone can give the bliss Worthy a soul that claims Its kindred with eternity. Queen Mab. 9] II *!*■ FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FIRST O THERE are spirits in the air, And genii of the evening breeze, And gentle ghosts, with eyes as fair As star-beams among twilight trees : With mountain winds, and babbling springs, And moonlight seas, that are the voice Of these inexplicable things Thou didst hold commune, and rejoice When they did answer thee. Early Poems. FEBRUARY SECOND Throughout this varied and eternal world Soul is the only element, the block That for uncounted ages has remained. The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight Is active, living spirit. Queen Mab. [ ii] FEBRUARY THIRD The cloud shadows of midnight possess their own repose, For the weary winds are silent, or the moon is in the deep : Some respite to its turbulence unresting ocean knows : Whatever moves, or toils, or grieves, hath its appointed sleep. Stanzas. FEBRUARY FOURTH I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be. Julian and Maddalo. FEBRUARY FIFTH To the pure all things are pure. Revolt of Islam. FEBRUARY SIXTH O man ! hold thee on in courage of soul Through the stormy shades of thy worldly way, And the billows of cloud that around thee roll Shall sleep in the light of a wondrous day. Death. [ "I FEBRUARY SEVENTH The torpor of the year when feeble dreams Visit the hidden buds, or dreamless sleep Holds every future leaf and flower. Mont Blanc. FEBRUARY EIGHTH Like a poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not. To a Skylark. FEBRUARY NINTH Man, one harmonious soul of many a soul, Whose nature is its own divine control, Where all things flow to all, as rivers to the sea. All things confess his strength, through the cold mass Of marble and of colour his dreams pass. Prometheus Unbound. FEBRUARY TENTH And what art thou ? I know, but dare not speak : Time may interpret to his silent years. Yet in the paleness of thy thoughtful cheek, And in the light thine ample forehead wears, [ 13] And in thy sweetest smiles, and in thy tears, And in thy gentle speech, a prophecy Is whispered, to subdue my fondest fears : And through thine eyes, even in thy soul I see A lamp of vestal fire burning internally. Ded. to Revolt of Islam. FEBRUARY ELEVENTH The pale stars are gone ! For the sun, their swift shepherd, To the folds them compelling, In the depths of the dawn, Hastes, in meteor-eclipsing array, and they flee Beyond his blue dwelling, As fawns flee the leopard. Prometheus Unbound. FEBRUARY TWELFTH Our simple life wants little, and true taste Hires not the pale drudge Luxury, to waste The scene it would adorn. Epipsychidion. FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH What is that awful sound ? 'T is the deep music of the rolling world Kindling within the strings of the waved air, iEolian modulations. Prometheus Unbound. [ Hi FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH And odours in a kind of aviary Of ever-blooming Eden-trees she kept, Clipt in a floating net, a love-sick Fairy Had woven from dew-beams while the moon yet slept; As bats at the wired window of a dairy, They beat their vans; and each was an adept, When loosed and missioned, making wings of winds, To stir sweet thoughts or sad in destined minds. Witch of Atlas. FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH Our feet now, every palm, Are sandalled with calm, And the dew of our wings is a rain of balm; And, beyond our eyes, The human love lies Which makes all it gazes on Paradise. Prometheus Unbound. FEBRUARY SIXTEENTH All-prevailing wisdom, when it reaps The harvest of its excellence, o'erbounds Those obstacles, of which an earthly soul Fears to attempt the conquest. Queen Mab. [ is] FEBRUARY SEVENTEENTH Yet pause, and plunge Into Eternity, where recorded time, Even all that we imagine, age on age, Seems but a point, and the reluctant mind Flags wearily in its unending flight, Till it sink dizzy, blind, lost, shelterless. Prometheus Unbound. FEBRUARY EIGHTEENTH Hope will make thee young, for Hope and Youth Are children of one mother, even Love. Revolt of Islam. FEBRUARY NINETEENTH The splendours of the firmament of time May be eclipsed, but are extinguished not; Like stars to their appointed height they climb, And death is a low mist which cannot blot The brightness it may veil. Adonais. FEBRUARY TWENTIETH Even thy name is as a god, Heaven ! for thou art the abode Of that power which is the glass Wherein man his nature sees. Generations as they pass [ 16] Worship thee with bended knees. Their unremaining gods and they Like a river roll away: Thou remainest such alway. Ode to Heaven. FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIRST He came like a dream in the dawn of life, He fled like a shadow before its noon; He is gone, and my peace is turned to strife, And I wander and wane like the weary moon. O sweet Echo wake, And for my sake Make answer the while my heart shall break ! Fragments. FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND How wonderful that even The passions, prejudices, interests, That sway the meanest being, the weak touch That moves the finest nerve, And in one human brain Causes the faintest thought, becomes a link In the great chain of nature. Queen Mab. [17] FEBRUARY TWENTY-THIRD Were it virtue's only meed, to dwell In a celestial palace, all resigned To pleasurable impulses, immured Within the prison of itself, the will Of changeless nature would be unfulfilled. Queen Mab. FEBRUARY TWENTY-FOURTH Woe is me ! The winged words on which my soul would pierce Into the height of Love's rare Universe, Are chains of lead around its flight of fire. I pant, I sink, I tremble, I expire ! Epipsychidion. FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIFTH But now, oh weave the mystic measure Of music, and dance, and shapes of light, Let the Hours, and the spirits of might and pleasure Like the clouds and sunbeams, unite. Prometheus Unbound. FEBRUARY TWENTY-SIXTH Love's very pain is sweet, But its reward is in the world divine, Which, if not here, it builds beyond the grave. Epipsychidion. I 18] FEBRUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH And some had lyres whose strings were intertwined With pale and clinging flames, which ever there Waked faint yet thrilling sounds that pierced the crystal air. Revolt of Islam. FEBRUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds, depart And come, for some uncertain moments lent. Man were immortal, and omnipotent, Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art, Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart. Thou messenger of sympathies That wax and wane in lover's eyes; Thou, that to human thought art nourishment, Like darkness to a dying flame ! Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. FEBRUARY TWENTY-NINTH We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly ! yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever. Mutability. [ 19] MARCH MARCH FIRST T^ROM all the blasts of Heaven thou hast ■*■ descended : Yes, like a spirit, like a thought which makes Unwonted tears throng to the horny eyes, And beatings haunt the desolated heart, Which should have learnt repose; thou hast descended Cradled in tempests; thou dost wake, O Spring! A child of many winds ! As suddenly Thou comest as the memory of a dream, Which now is sad because it hath been sweet. Prometheus Unbound. MARCH SECOND Would I were the winged cloud Of a tempest swift and loud ! I would scorn The smile of morn, And the wave where the moonrise is born ! Bask in the blue noon divine Who would ? Not I. Hellas. [21] MARCH THIRD For, lo ! the wintry clouds are all gone by, And bright Arcturus through yon pines is glowing, And far o'er southern waves, immovably Belted Orion hangs — warm light is flowing From the young moon into the sunset's chasm. Prince Athanase. MARCH FOURTH The eldest of the hours of spring, Into the winter wandering, Looked upon the leafless wood; And smiled upon the silent sea, And bade the frozen streams be free; And waked to music all the fountains, And breathed upon the rigid mountains. The Pine Forest. MARCH FIFTH Who made that sense which, when the winds of spring In rarest visitation, or the voice Of one beloved heard in youth alone, Fills the faint eyes with falling tears which dim The radiant looks of unbewailing flowers, And leaves this peopled earth a solitude When it returns no more ? Prometheus Unbound. [22] MARCH SIXTH Mighty Earth From sea and mountain, city and wilderness, In vesper low or joyous orison, Lifts still its solemn voice. Alastor. MARCH SEVENTH The good want power, but to weep barren tears. The powerful goodness want : worse need for them. The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom; And all best things are thus confused to ill. Prometheus Unbound. MARCH EIGHTH When musing deeply on the lot Of life, at that sweet time when winds are wooing All vital things that wake to bring News of birds and blossoming, Sudden thy shadow fell on me : I shrieked, and clasped my hands in ecstasy ! Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. MARCH NINTH Then gentle winds arose With many a mingled close Of wild iEolian sound and mountain odour keen. Ode to Naples. [23] MARCH TENTH I loved, I love, and when I love no more Let joys and grief perish, and leave despair To ring the knell of youth. Fragments. MARCH ELEVENTH The breath of the moist earth is light Around its unexpanded buds; Like many a voice of one delight, The winds, the birds, the ocean floods, The City's voice itself is soft, like Solitude's. Stanzas. MARCH TWELFTH Birth but wakes the spirit to the sense Of outward shows, whose unexperienced shape New modes of passion to its frame may lend. Queen Mab. MARCH THIRTEENTH Weary wind, who wanderest Like the world's rejected guest, Hast thou still some secret nest On the tree or billow ? The World" s Wanderers. [24] MARCH FOURTEENTH Grief made the young Spring wild, and she threw down Her kindling buds, as if she Autumn were, Or they dead leaves; since her delight is flown, For whom should she have waked the sullen year ? To Phcebus was not Hyacinth so dear, Not to himself Narcissus, as to both Thou Adonais : wan they stand and sere Amid the faint companions of their youth, With dew all turned to tears; odour, to sighing ruth. Adonais. MARCH FIFTEENTH A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew, And the young winds fed it with silver dew, And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light, And closed them beneath the kisses of night. The Sensitive Pla?it. MARCH SIXTEENTH A boat of rare device, which had no sail But its own curved prow of thin moonstone, Wrought like a web of texture fine and frail, To catch those gentlest winds which are not known To breathe, but by the steady speed alone With which it cleaves the sparkling sea. Revolt of Islam. [25] MARCH SEVENTEENTH The hoary grove Waxed green — and flowers burst forth like starry beams; — The grass in the warm sun did start and move, And sea-buds burst under the waves serene. Prince Athanase. MARCH EIGHTEENTH For love, and beauty, and delight, There is no death nor change. The Sensitive Plant. MARCH NINETEENTH All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when nignt is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is . overflowed. To a Skylark. MARCH TWENTIETH I dwelt, a free and happy orphan child, By the sea-shore, in a deep mountain glen; And near the waves, and through the forests wild I roamed, to storm and darkness reconciled : [26] For I was calm while tempest shook the sky : But when the breathless heavens in beauty smiled, I wept, sweet tears, yet too tumultuously For peace, and clasped my hands aloft in ecstasy. Revolt of Islam. MARCH TWENTY-FIRST Radiant Sister of the Day, Awake ! arise ! and come away ! To the wild woods and the plains, And the pools where winter rains Image all their roof of leaves, Where the pine its garland weaves Of sapless green and ivy dun Round stems that never kiss the sun; Where the lawns and pastures be, And the sandhills of the sea; — Where the melting hoar-frost wets The daisy-star that never sets, And wind-flowers, and violets, Which yet join not scent to hue, Crown the pale year weak and new. To Jane: The Invitation. MARCH TWENTY-SECOND Lo, where red morning through the woods Is burning o'er the dew. Rosalind and Helen. [27] MARCH TWENTY-THIRD And the Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere, And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. The Sensitive Plant. MARCH TWENTY-FOURTH If night is mute, yet the returning sun Kindles the voices of the morning birds. Hellas. MARCH TWENTY-FIFTH From the moss violets and jonquils peep, And dart their arrowy odour through the brain Till you might faint with that delicious pain. Epipsychidion. MARCH TWENTY-SIXTH Though storms may break the primrose on its stalk, Though frosts may blight the freshness of its bloom, Yet Spring's awakening breath will woo the earth, To feed with kindliest dews its favourite flower, That blooms in mossy banks and darksome glens, Lighting the greenwood with its sunny smile. Queen Mab. [28] MARCH TWENTY-SEVENTH And, hark ! their sweet, sad voices ! 't is despair Mingled with love and then dissolved in sound. Prometheus Unbound. MARCH TWENTY-EIGHTH Death is a gate of dreariness and gloom, That leads to azure isles and beaming skies And happy regions of eternal hope. Therefore, O Spirit ! fearlessly bear on. Queen Mab. MARCH TWENTY-NINTH In its sleep some odorous violet, While yet its leaves with nightly dews are wet, Breathes in prophetic dreams of day's uprise. Revolt of Islam. MARCH THIRTIETH The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet, And their breath was mixed with fresh odour, sent From the turf, like the voice and the instrument. The Sensitive Plant. MARCH THIRTY-FIRST We know not where we go, or what sweet dream May pilot us through caverns strange and fair Of far and pathless passion, while the stream Of life, our bark doth on its whirlpools bear, [29] Spreading swift wings as sails to the dim air; Nor should we seek to know, so the devotion Of love and gentle thoughts be heard still there Louder and louder from the utmost Ocean Of universal life, attuning its commotion. Revolt of Islam. [30] APRIL APRIL FIRST AND gaily now meseems serene earth wears • The bloomy spring's star-bright investi- ture, A vision which aught sad from sadness might allure. Revolt of Islam. APRIL SECOND Through wood and stream and field and hill and Ocean A quickening life from the Earth's heart has burst, As it has ever done, with change and motion, From the great morning of the world when first God dawned on Chaos. Adonais. APRIL THIRD The chain is loosed, the sails are spread, The living breath is fresh behind, As, with dews and sunrise fed, Comes the laughing morning wind. Boat on the Serchio. [31 ] APRIL FOURTH Hail to thee, blithe spirit ! Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. To a Skylark. APRIL FIFTH I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken The sweet birds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. The Cloud. APRIL SIXTH O Spring, of hope, and love, and youth, and gladness, Wind-winged emblem! brightest, best and fairest! Whence comest thou, when, with dark winter's sadness The tears that fade in sunny smiles thou sharest; Sister of joy, thou art the child who wearest Thy mother's dying smile, tender and sweet; Thy mother Autumn, for whose grave thou bearest [32] Fresh flowers, and beams like flowers, with gentle feet, Disturbing not the leaves which are her winding- sheet. Revolt of Islam. APRIL SEVENTH Music is in the sea and air, Winged clouds soar here and there, Dark with the rain new buds are dreaming of. Prometheus Unbound. APRIL EIGHTH A Metaphor of Spring and Youth and Morning; A Vision like incarnate April, warning, With smiles and tears, Frost the Anatomy Into his summer grave. Epipsychidion. APRIL NINTH What is heaven ? a globe of dew, Filling in the morning new Some eyed flower whose young leaves waken On an unimagined world : Constellated suns unshaken, Orbits measureless, are furled In that frail and fading sphere. With ten millions gathered there, To tremble, gleam, and disappear. Ode to Heaven. [33] APRIL TENTH Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-awakened flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass. To a Skylark. APRIL ELEVENTH The airs and streams renew their joyous tone; The ants, the bees, the swallows, reappear; Fresh leaves and flowers deck the dead Season's bier; The amorous birds now pair in every brake, And build their mossy homes in field and brere; And the green lizard, and the golden snake, Like unimprisoned flames, out of their trance awake. Adonais. APRIL TWELFTH The hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, It was felt like an odour within the sense. The Sensitive Plant. [34] APRIL THIRTEENTH Weary with vain toil and faint for thirst, Heard not the fountains, whose melodious dew Out of their mossy cells for ever burst; Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told .Of grassy paths and woods, lawn-interspersed, With overarching elms and caverns cold, And violet banks where sweet dreams brood. The Triumph of Life. APRIL FOURTEENTH From that lone ruin, . . . might be heard the murmur of the motion Of waters, as in spots for ever haunted By the choicest winds of Heaven, which are enchanted To music, by the wand of Solitude, That wizard wild. Revolt of Islam. APRIL FIFTEENTH What hand would crush the silken-winged fly, The youngest of inconstant April's minions, Because it cannot climb the purest sky, Where the swan sings, amid the sun's dominions ? Ded. to Witch of Atlas. APRIL SIXTEENTH Power dwells apart in its tranquillity Remote, serene, and inaccessible. Mont Blanc. [35] APRIL SEVENTEENTH Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood and the downs — To the silent wilderness Where the soul need not repress Its music lest it should not find An echo in another's mind, While the touch of Nature's art Harmonizes heart to heart. To Jane : The Invitation. APRIL EIGHTEENTH Bright clouds float in heaven, Dew-stars gleam on earth, Waves assemble on ocean, They are gathered and driven By the storm of delight, by the panic of glee ! They shake with emotion, They dance in their mirth. Prometheus Unbound. APRIL NINETEENTH The bare green hill When some soft cloud vanishes into rain, Laughs with a thousand drops of sunny water To the unpavilioned sky ! Prometheus Unbound. [36] APRIL TWENTIETH Two runnels of a rivulet, Between the close moss, violet-inwoven, Have made their path of melody, like sisters Who part with sighs that they may meet in smiles, Turning their dear disunion to an isle Of lovely grief, a wood of sweet, sad thoughts. Prometheus Unbound. APRIL TWENTY-FIRST Even the minutest molecule of light, That in an April sunbeam's fleeting glow Fulfils its destined, though invisible work, The universal Spirit guides. Queen Mab. APRIL TWENTY-SECOND In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run, Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. To a Skylark. APRIL TWENTY-THIRD We will entangle buds and flowers and beams Which twinkle on the fountain's brim, and make Strange combinations out of common things. Prometheus Unbound. [37] APRIL TWENTY-FOURTH 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. The Triumph of Life. APRIL TWENTY-FIFTH Earth, our bright home, its mountains and its waters, And the ethereal shapes which are suspended Over its green expanse, and those fair daughters, The clouds, of Sun and Ocean, who have blended The colours of the air since first extended It cradled the young world, none wandered forth To see or feel. Revolt of Islam. APRIL TWENTY-SIXTH He heard The motion of the leaves, the grass that sprung Startled and glanced and trembled even to feel An unaccustomed presence, and the sound Of the sweet brook. Alastor. APRIL TWENTY-SEVENTH Multitudes of dense white fleecy clouds Were wandering in thick flocks along the mountains [38] Shepherded by the slow, unwilling wind; And the white dew on the new-bladed grass, Just piercing the dark earth, hung silently. Prometheus Unbound. APRIL TWENTY-EIGHTH I arise, and climbing Heaven's blue dome, I walk over the mountains and the waves, Leaving my robe upon the ocean foam; My footsteps pave the clouds with fire; the caves Are filled with my bright presence, and the air Leaves the green earth to my embraces bare. Hymn of Apollo. APRIL TWENTY-NINTH To feel the peace of self-contentment's lot, To own all sympathies, and outrage none, And in the inmost bowers of sense and thought, Until life's sunny day is quite gone down, To sit and smile with Joy, or, not alone, To kiss salt tears from the worn cheek of Woe; To live, as if to love and live were one. Revolt of Islam. APRIL THIRTIETH A wind arose among the pines; it shook The clinging music from their boughs, and then Low, sweet, faint sounds, like the farewell of ghosts Were heard. Prometheus Un hound. [39] MAY MAY FIRST T3EHOLD! Spring sweeps over the world •*~* again, Shedding soft dews from her ethereal wings ; Flowers on the mountains, fruits over the plain, And music on the waves and woods she flings, And love on all that lives, and calm on lifeless things. Re-volt of Islam. MAY SECOND I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way, Bare winter suddenly was changed to spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay Under a copse, arid hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kissed it and then fled. The Question. [41] MAY THIRD I feed the clouds, the rainbows and the flowers With their ethereal colours; the Moon's globe And the pure stars in their eternal bowers Are cinctured with my power as with a robe; Whatever lamps on Earth or Heaven may shine, Are portions of one power, which is mine. Hymn of Apollo. MAY FOURTH A gentle rivulet, Whose water, like clear air, in its calm sweep 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. The Triumph of Life. MAY FIFTH Sometimes between the wide and flowering meadows, Mile after mile we sailed, and 't was delight To see far off the sunbeams chase the shadows Over the grass. Revolt of Islam. [42] MAY SIXTH His head was bound with pansies over-blown, And faded violets, white, and pied, and blue; And a light spear topped with a cypress cone, Round whose rude shaft dark ivy-tresses grew, Yet dripping with the forest's noonday dew, Vibrated, as the ever-beating heart Shook the weak hand that grasped it; of that crew He came the last, neglected and apart : A herd-abandoned deer, struck by the hunter's dart. Adonais. MAY SEVENTH The pine boughs are singing Old songs with new gladness, The billows and fountains Fresh music are flinging, Like the notes of a spirit from land and from sea; The storms mock the mountains With the thunder of gladness. Prometheus Unbound. MAY EIGHTH How beautiful this night ! the balmiest sigh, Which vernal zephyrs breathe in evening's ear, Were discord to the speaking quietude That wraps this moveless scene. Queen Mab. [43] MAY NINTH 'T was the season fair and mild When April has wept itself to May. Rosalind and Helen. MAY TENTH The pyramids Of the tall cedar overarching, frame Most solemn domes within, and far below, Like clouds suspended in an emerald sky, The ash and the acacia floating hang Tremulous and pale. Soft mossy lawns Beneath these canopies extend their swells, Fragrant with perfumed herbs, and eyed with « blooms Minute yet beautiful. Alastor. MAY ELEVENTH A scene of joy and wonder to behold That river's shapes and shadows changing ever, Where the broad sunrise, filled with deepening gold, Its whirlpools, where all hues did spread and quiver, And where melodious falls did burst and shiver Among rocks clad with flowers, the foam and spray Sparkled like stars upon the sunny river. Revolt of Islam. [44] MAY TWELFTH Weave the dance on the floor of the breeze, Pierce with song heaven's silent light, Enchant the day that too swiftly flees, To check its flight ere the cave of night. Prometheus Unbound. MAY THIRTEENTH But the Sensitive Plant, which could give small fruit Of the love which it felt from the leaf to the root, Received more than all, it loved more than ever, Where none wanted but it, could belong to the giver. The Sensitive Plant. MAY FOURTEENTH There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth, The constellated flower that never sets; Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets — Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth — Its mother's face with heaven-collected tears, When the low wind its playmate's voice it hears. The Question. [45] MAY FIFTEENTH And we will search, with looks and words of love, For hidden thoughts, each lovelier than the last, Our unexhausted spirits; and like lutes Touched by the skill of the enamoured wind, Weave harmonies divine, yet ever new, From difference sweet where discord cannot be. Prometheus Unbound. MAY SIXTEENTH Swift as a spirit hastening to his task Of glory and of good, the Sun sprang forth Rejoicing in his splendour, and the mask Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth — The smokeless altars of the mountain-snows Flamed above crimson clouds, and at the birth Of light, the Ocean's orison arose, To which the birds tempered their matin lay. The Triumph of Life. MAY SEVENTEENTH The artist wrought this loved Guitar, And taught it justly to reply, To all who question skilfully, In language gentle as its own, Whispering in enamoured tone Sweet oracles of woods and dells, And summer winds in sylvan cells; For it had learnt all harmonies Of the plains and of the skies, [46] Of the forests and the mountains, And the many-voiced fountains; The clearest echoes of the hills, The softest notes of falling rills, The melodies of birds and bees, The murmuring of summer seas, And pattering rain, and breathing dew, And airs of evening. Ariel to Miranda. MAY EIGHTEENTH Lilies for a bridal bed, Roses for a matron's head, Violets for a maiden dead, Pansies let my flowers be. A Lament. MAY NINETEENTH It is an isle 'twixt Heaven, Air, Earth, and Sea, Cradled and hung in clear tranquillity; Bright as that wandering Eden Lucifer, Washed by the soft blue Oceans of young air. Epipsychidion. MAY TWENTIETH Then the pied windflowers and the tulip tall, And narcissi, the fairest among them all, Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess, Till they die of their own dear loveliness. The Sensitive Plant. [47] MAY TWENTY-FIRST And hither come, sped on the charmed winds, The echoes of the human world, which tell Of the low voice of love, almost unheard, And dove-eyed pity's murmured pain, and music, Itself the echo of the heart. Prometheus Unbound. MAY TWENTY-SECOND And one with trembling hands clasps his cold head, And fans him with her moonlight wings, and cries; "Our love, our hope, our sorrow, is not dead : See, on the silken fringe of his faint eyes, Like dew upon a sleeping flower, there lies A tear some Dream has loosened from his brain." Lost Angel of a ruined Paradise ! Adonais. MAY TWENTY-THIRD The awful shadow of some unseen Power Floats though unseen among us; visiting This various world with as inconstant wing As summer winds that creep from flower to flower ; Like moonbeams that blind some piny mountain shower, It visits with inconstant glance Each human heart and countenance; [48] Like hues and harmonies of evening, Like clouds in starlight widely spread, Like memory of music fled, Like aught that for its grace may be Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery. Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. MAY TWENTY-FOURTH Lo ! the sun upsprings behind, Broad, red, radiant, half-reclined On the level quivering line Of the waters crystalline. Lines among the Euganean Hills. MAY TWENTY-FIFTH Oh thou, who plumed with strong desire Would float above the earth, beware ! A Shadow tracks thy flight of fire — Night is coming ! Bright are the regions of the air, And among the winds and beams It were delight to wander there — Night is coming! The Two Spirits. MAY TWENTY-SIXTH I arose, and for a space 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 [49] Sheds on the common earth, and all the place Was filled with magic sounds woven into one Oblivious melody, confusing sense Amid the gliding waves and shadows dun. The Triumph of Life. MAY TWENTY-SEVENTH And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured May, And cherry blossoms, and white cups, whose wine Was the bright dew yet drained not by the day; And wild roses, and ivy serpentine, With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold, Fairer than any wakened eyes behold. The Question. MAY TWENTY-EIGHTH Around, a forest grew Of poplars and dark oaks, whose shade did cover The waning stars prankt in the waters blue, And trembled in the wind which from the morn- ing flew. Revolt of Islam. MAY TWENTY-NINTH There are thick woods where sylvan forms abide; And many a fountain, rivulet, and pond, As clear as elemental diamond, Or serene morning air. Epipsychidion. [50] MAY THIRTIETH It knew That seldom-heard mysterious sound, Which, driven in its diurnal round, As it floats through boundless day, Our world enkindles on its way. Ariel to Miranda. MAY THIRTY-FIRST The matin winds from the expanded flowers Scatter their hoarded incense, and awaken The earth, until the dewy sleep is shaken From every living heart which it possesses. Ginenjra. [Si] JUNE JUNE FIRST |"T was the azure time of June, ■*• When the skies are deep in the stainless noon, And the warm and fitful breezes shake The fresh green leaves of the hedge-row briar. And there were odours then to make The very breath we did respire A liquid element, whereon Our spirits, like delighted things That walk the air on subtle wings, Floated and mingled far away, 'Mid the warm winds of the sunny day. Rosalind and Helen. JUNE SECOND There stood 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; And still before me on the dusky grass Iris her many-coloured scarf had drawn. The Triumph of Life. [53] JUNE THIRD We sail on, away, afar, Without a course, without a star, But by the instinct of sweet music driven; Till through Elysian garden islets By thee, most beautiful of pilots, Where never mortal pinnace glided, The boat of my desire is guided : Realms where the air we breathe is love, Which in the winds on the waves doth move, Harmonizing this earth with what we feel above. Prometheus Unbound. JUNE FOURTH The winged storms, chanting their thunder-psalm To other lands, leave azure chasms of calm Over this isle, or weep themselves in dew, From which its fields and woods ever renew Their green and golden immortality. Epipsychidion. JUNE FIFTH The deathless stars are bright above ; If I would cross the shade of night, Within my heart is the lamp of love, And that is day! And the moon will smile with gentle light On my golden plumes where'er they move; The meteors will linger round my flight And make night day. The Two Spirits. [54] JUNE SIXTH What thou art we know not; What is most like thee ? Like a rose embowered In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflowered, Till the scent it gives Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy- winged thieves. To a Skylark. JUNE SEVENTH All flowers in field or forest which unclose Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, Swinging their censers in the element, With orient incense lit by the new ray Burned slow and inconsumably, and sent Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air. The Triumph of Life. JUNE EIGHTH Why must I think how oft we two Have sate together near the river springs, Under the green pavilion which the willow Spreads on the floor of the unbroken fountain, Strewn by the nurslings that linger there, Over that islet paved with flowers and moss, [55] While the musk-rose leaves, like flakes of crim- son snow, Showered on us, and the dove mourned in the pine, Sad prophetess of sorrows not our own. Fragments. JUNE NINTH And the sinuous paths of lawn and of moss, Which led through the garden along and across, Some open at once to the sun and the breeze, Some lost among bowers of blossoming trees, Were all paved with daisies and delicate bells As fair as the fabulous asphodels, And flowrets which drooping as day drooped too Fell into pavilions, white, purple, and blue, To roof the glowworm from the evening dew. The Sensitive Plant. JUNE TENTH And when the evening star came forth Above the curve of the new bent moon, And light and sound ebbed from the earth, Like the tide of the full and weary sea To the depths of its tranquillity, Our natures to its own repose Did the earth's breathless sleep attune. Rosalind and Helen. [56] JUNE ELEVENTH As a tuberose Peoples some Indian dell with scents which lie Like clouds above the flower from which they rose, The singing of that happy nightingale In this sweet forest, from the golden close Of evening, till the star of dawn may fail, Was interfused upon the silentness; The folded roses and the violets pale Heard her within their slumbers, the abyss Of heaven with all its planets; the dull ear Of the night-cradled earth; . . . Was awed into delight, and by the charm Girt as with an interminable zone, Whilst that sweet bird, whose music was a storm Of sound, shook forth the dull oblivion Out of their dreams; harmony became love. The Woodman and the Nightingale. JUNE TWELFTH It was a feast Whene'er he found those globes of deep red gold Which in the woods the strawberry-tree doth bear, Suspended in their emerald atmosphere. Marenghi. [57] JUNE THIRTEENTH And the rose like a nymph to the bath addrest, Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breast, Till, fold after fold, to the fainting air The soul of her beauty and love lay bare. 'The Sensitive Plant. JUNE FOURTEENTH Underneath a cloud of dew Embodied in the windless Heaven of June, Amid the splendour-winged stars, the Moon Burns, inextinguishably beautiful. Epipsychidion. JUNE FIFTEENTH The rivulet Wanton and wild, through many a green ravine Beneath the forest flowed. Sometimes it fell Among the moss with hollow harmony Dark and profound. Now on the polished stones It danced; like childhood laughing as it went: Then through the plain in tranquil wanderings crept, Reflecting every herb and drooping bud That overhung its quietness. Alastor. 58] JUNE SIXTEENTH The wandering airs they faint On the dark, the silent stream — The champak odours fail Like sweet thoughts in a dream; The nightingale's complaint, It dies upon her heart, As I must die on thine, Beloved as thou art ! Lines to an Indian Air. JUNE SEVENTEENTH And all the place is peopled with sweet airs; The light clear element which the isle wears Is heavy with the scent of lemon-flowers, Which floats like mist laden with unseen showers, And falls upon the eyelids like faint sleep. Epipsychidion. JUNE EIGHTEENTH We strew these opiate flowers On thy restless pillow, — They were stripped from orient bowers, By the Indian billow. Be thy sleep Calm and deep. Hellas. [59] JUNE NINETEENTH The aerial hue Of fountain-gazing roses fills the water. Prometheus Unbound. JUNE TWENTIETH There is a cave, All overgrown with trailing odorous plants, Which curtain out the day with leaves and flowers, And paved with veined emerald, and a fountain Leaps in the midst with an awakening sound. From its curved roof the mountain's frozen tears Like snow, or silver, or long diamond spires, Hang downward, raining forth a doubtful light. Prometheus Unbound. JUNE TWENTY-FIRST And from the sea there rise, and from the sky There fall, clear exhalations, soft and bright, Veil after veil, each hiding some delight, Which Sun or Moon or zephyr draw aside. Epipsychidion. JUNE TWENTY-SECOND We wandered to the Pine Forest That skirts the Ocean's foam, The lightest wind was in its nest, The tempest in its home. [60] The whispering waves were half asleep, The clouds were gone to play, And on the woods, and on the deep, The smile of Heaven lay. The Pine Forest. JUNE TWENTY-THIRD The fountains mingle with the river, And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle — Why not I with thine ? Lo