A LOST LEADER

My head is wild with weeping for a grief
Which is the shadow of a gentle mind.
I walk into the air (but no relief

To seek, or haply, if I sought, to find;
It came unsought); to wonder that a chief
Among men's spirits should be cold and blind.

ON KEATS

WHO DESIRED THAT ON HIS TOMB SHOULD BE IN

SCRIBED

“HERE lieth One whose name was writ on water! But ere the breath that could erase it blew, Death, in remorse for that fell slaughter,

Death, the immortalizing winter, flew

Athwart the stream, and time's printless torrent

grew

A scroll of crystal, blazoning the name

Of Adonais!

ΤΟ

For me, my friend, if not that tears did tremble In my faint eyes, and that my heart beat fast

A Lost Leader. Dowden. Published, by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1818.

On Keats. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1821. 5 printless, Boscombe MS. || monthless, Mrs. Shelley, 18391. To To a Friend leaving Prison, Forman. To one freed from Prison, Dowden. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1817.

With feelings which make rapture pain resemble,
Yet, from thy voice that falsehood starts aghast,
I thank thee - let the tyrant keep

His chains and tears, yea let him weep
With rage to see thee freshly risen,

Like strength from slumber, from the prison,
In which he vainly hoped the soul to bind
Which on the chains must prey that fetter human-
kind.

MILTON'S SPIRIT

I DREAMED that Milton's spirit rose, and took
From life's green tree his Uranian lute;
And from his touch sweet thunder flowed, and
shook

All human things built in contempt of man,-
And sanguine thrones and impious altars quaked,
Prisons and citadels.

"MIGHTY EAGLE"

MIGHTY eagle! thou that soarest
O'er the misty mountain forest,
And amid the light of morning

Like a cloud of glory hiest,
And when night descends defiest

The embattled tempests' warning!

Milton's Spirit, Forman. Published, by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1820.

"Mighty Eagle" || "Mighty Eagle: "supposed to be addressed to William Godwin, Forman. Published by Forman, 1882, dated 1817.

LAUREL

"WHAT art thou, presumptuous, who profanest The wreath to mighty poets only due,

Even whilst like a forgotten moon thou wanest? Touch not those leaves which for the eternal

few

Who wander o'er the paradise of fame,

66

In sacred dedication ever grew:

One of the crowd thou art without a name."
'Ah, friend, 'tis the false laurel that I wear.
Bright though it seem, it is not the same
As that which bound Milton's immortal hair:
Its dew is poison; and the hopes that quicken
Under its chilling shade, though seeming fair,
Are flowers which die almost before they
sicken.'

"ONCE MORE DESCEND"

ONCE more descend

The shadows of my soul upon mankind; For, to those hearts with which they never blend, Thoughts are but shadows which the flashing

mind

From the swift clouds, which track its flight of fire, Casts on the gloomy world it leaves behind.

Laurel False Laurels and True, Forman. False Laurels, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1821.

"Once more descend" || Supposed to be a fragment of Otho, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1817.

INSPIRATION

THOSE Whom nor power, nor lying faith, nor toil,
Nor custom, queen of many slaves, makes blind,
Have ever grieved that man should be the spoil
Of his own weakness, and with earnest mind
Fed hopes of its redemption; these recur,
Chastened by deathful victory now, and find
Foundations in this foulest age, and stir
Me whom they cheer to be their minister.

TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND

PEOPLE of England, ye who toil and groan,
Who reap the harvests which are not your own,
Who weave the clothes which your oppressors wear,
And for your own take the inclement air;
Who build warm houses

And are like gods who give them all they have,
And nurse them from the cradle to the grave.

WHAT men gain fairly, that they should possess ; And children may inherit idleness,

From him who earns it - this is understood;

Inspiration || Supposed to be a fragment of Otho, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1817.

To the People of England, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1819.

66

What men gain fairly" || joined with preceding fragment, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

Private injustice may be general good.
But he who gains by base and armèd wrong,
Or guilty fraud, or base compliances,
May be despoiled; even as a stolen dress
Is stripped from a convicted thief, and he
Left in the nakedness of infamy.

ROME

ROME has fallen; ye see it lying
Heaped in undistinguished ruin :
Nature is alone undying.

TO ITALY

As the sunrise to the night,

As the north wind to the clouds,
As the earthquake's fiery flight,
Ruining mountain solitudes,
Everlasting Italy,

Be those hopes and fears on thee.

"UNRISEN SPLENDOR"

UNRISEN splendor of the brightest sun,
To rise upon our darkness, if the star
Now beckoning thee out of thy misty throne
Could thaw the clouds which wage an obscure war
With thy young brightness!

Rome Rome and Nature, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

To Italy, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1819. "Unrisen Splendor." Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1820.