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I shall not weep out of the vital day,
To-morrow dust, nor wear a dull decay.

"GREAT SPIRIT"

GREAT Spirit whom the sea of boundless thought
Nurtures within its unimagined caves,

In which thou sittest sole, as in my mind,
Giving a voice to its mysterious waves.

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Whose throne is in the depth of human thought,
I do adjure thy power and thee

By all that man may be, by all that he is not,
By all that he has been and yet must be!

"YE GENTLE VISITATIONS"

YE gentle visitations of calm thought,

Moods like the memories of happier earth, Which come arrayed in thoughts of little worth, Like stars in clouds by the weak winds enwrought,

But that the clouds depart and stars remain,
While they remain, and ye, alas, depart!

3 weep || creep, Rossetti, conj.

"Great Spirit" || Invocation, Forman. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1821.

"O Thou Immortal Deity" || Invocation, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1821.

"Ye Gentle Visitations" || Calm Thoughts, Forman; Visitation of Calm Thought, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1819.

"MY THOUGHTS"

My thoughts arise and fade in solitude,
The verse that would invest them melts away
Like moonlight in the heaven of spreading day :
How beautiful they were, how firm they stood,
Flecking the starry sky like woven pearl!

My Thoughts | Thoughts, Forman; Thoughts in Solitude, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1817.

TRANSLATIONS

The Translations were published partly by Shelley, with other poems, partly by Mrs. Shelley, and partly by Medwin, Garnett, Rossetti and Forman from MSS. The date of the original issue of each is given in the footnotes. They were written from 1818 to 1822. Two pieces, hypothetically ascribed to Shelley by Forman, The Dinner Party Anticipated, a paraphrase of Horace III. xix., and The Magic Horn from Bronzino, are excluded from the text, there being no substantial evidence that Shelley wrote them.

HYMN TO MERCURY

FROM THE GREEK OF HOMER

I

SING, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove,
The Herald-child, king of Arcadia

And all its pastoral hills, whom, in sweet love
Having been interwoven, modest May
Bore Heaven's dread Supreme. An antique grove
Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay

In the deep night, unseen by Gods or Men,
And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then.

II

Now, when the joy of Jove had its fulfilling,
And Heaven's tenth moon chronicled her relief,
She gave to light a babe all babes excelling,
A schemer subtle beyond all belief,

A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow-stealing,

A night-watching, and door-waylaying thief, Who 'mongst the Gods was soon about to thieve, And other glorious actions to achieve.

III

The babe was born at the first peep of day;
He began playing on the lyre at noon,

Hymn to Mercury. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 1824.
ii. 5 dreams and, Rossetti conj.

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