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"

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.

"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.

TO ZEPHYR

COME, thou awakener of the spirit's ocean,

Zephyr, whom to thy cloud or cave

No thought can trace! speed with thy gentle mo

tion !

"FOLLOW"

FOLLOW to the deep wood's weeds,
Follow to the wild briar dingle,
Where we seek to intermingle,
And the violet tells her tale
To the odor-scented gale,
For they two have enough to do
Of such work as I and you.

THE RAIN-WIND

THE gentleness of rain was in the wind.

RAIN

THE fitful alternations of the rain,
When the chill wind, languid as with pain

To Zephyr The Awakener, Dowden. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1821.

66

Follow" || Fragment of an Invitation, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1819.

The Rain-wind || Rain and Wind, Dowden.

Published by

Rossetti, 1870, dated 1821.

Rain || Fitful Rain, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

Of its own heavy moisture, here and there
Drives through the gray and beamless atmosphere.

"WHEN SOFT WINDS "

WHEN soft winds and sunny skies
With the green earth harmonize,
And the young and dewy dawn,
Bold as an unhunted fawn,
Up the windless heaven is gone, -
Laugh — for, ambushed in the day,
Clouds and whirlwinds watch their prey.

THE VINE

FLOURISHING vine, whose kindling clusters glow Beneath the autumnal sun, none

taste of

thee;

For thou dost shroud a ruin, and below
The rotting bones of dead antiquity.

THE WANING MOON

AND like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapped in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,

"When soft winds" || Insecurity, Forman. Ambushed Dangers, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1821.

The Vine | The Vine amid Ruins, Dowden. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1818.

The Waning Moon. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 1824, dated 1820.

The moon arose up in the murky East,
A white and shapeless mass.

TO THE MOON

BRIGHT wanderer, fair coquette of heaven,
To whom alone it has been given
To change and be adored forever,
Envy not this dim world, for never
But once within its shadow
grew
One fair as

TO THE MOON

I

ART thou pale for weariness

Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless

Among the stars that have a different birth,—
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?

II

Thou chosen sister of the spirit, That gazes on thee till in thee it pities

5 in the murky East, Boscombe MS. | in the murky Earth, Mrs. Shelley, 1824; on the murky Earth, Mrs. Shelley, 1847.

To the Moon, Forman. Published by Garnett, 1862, dated 1822. To the Moon. Published i. by Mrs. Shelley, 1824, and ii. by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1820.