POETRY AND MUSIC

How sweet it is to sit and read the tales
Of mighty poets, and to hear the while
Sweet music, which when the attention fails
Fills the dim pause !

“A GENTLE STORY”

A GENTLE story of two lovers young,

Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancor clung
Like curses on them ; are ye slow to borrow

The lore of truth from such a tale ?
Or in this world's deserted vale,
Do ye not see a star of gladness

Pierce the shadows of its sadness, -
When ye are cold, that love is a light sent
From heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer

the innocent ?

THE LADY OF THE SOUTH

FAINT with love, the Lady of the South

Lay in the paradise of Lebanon

Poetry and Music, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

“A Gentle Story.” Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

The Lady of the South || Love, Forman. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1821.

Under a heaven of cedar boughs; the drouth

Of love was on her lips ; the light was gone Out of her eyes.

THE TALE UNTOLD

ONE sung of thee who left the tale untold,
Like the false dawns which perish in the burst-

ing; Like empty cups of wrought and dædal gold, Which mock the lips with air, when they are

thirsting

WINE OF EGLANTINE

I AM drunk with the honey wine
Of the moon-unfolded eglantine,
Which fairies catch in hyacinth bowls.
The bats, the dormice, and the moles
Sleep in the walls or under the sward
Of the desolate Castle yard;
And when 'tis spilt on the summer earth
Or its fumes arise among the dew,
Their jocund dreams are full of mirth,
They gibber their joy in sleep; for few
Of the fairies bear those bowls so new !

The Tale Untold || An Unfinished Tale, Forman. A Tale Untold, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

Wine of Eglantine, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1819.

A ROMAN'S CHAMBER

I
In the cave which wild weeds cover
Wait for thine ethereal lover ;
For the pallid moon is waning,
O’er the spiral cypress hanging,
And the moon no cloud is staining.

II
It was once a Roman's chamber,
And the wild weeds twine and clamber,
Where he kept his darkest revels;
It was then a chasm for devils.

SONG OF THE FURIES

WHEN a lover clasps his fairest,
Then be our dread sport the rarest.
Their caresses were like the chaff
In the tempest, and be our laugh
His despair- her epitaph!

When a mother clasps her child,
Watch till dusty Death has piled
His cold ashes on the clay;

A Roman's Chamber || The Roman's Chamber, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

ii. 2, 3 Rossetti || transpose, Mrs. Shelley, 18392.

Song of the Furies, Dowden || Fragment of an Incantation, Forman. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1819.

She has loved it many a day-
She remains, — it fades away.

.

“THE RUDE WIND IS SINGING”

THE rude wind is singing

The dirge of the music dead;
The cold worms are clinging

Where kisses were lately fed.

BEFORE AND AFTER

THE babe is at peace within the womb;
The
corpse

is at rest within the tomb :
We begin in what we end.

THE SHADOW OF HELL

A GOLDEN-WINGÈD Angel stood

Before the Eternal Judgment-seat:
His looks were wild, and Devils' blood

Stained his dainty hands and feet.
The Father and the Son
Knew that strife was now begun.
They knew that Satan had broken his chain,

The Rude Wind is singing." Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, dated 1821.

Before and After || Peace First and Last, Forman; Peace Surrounding Life, Dowden. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 18392, dated 1821.

The Shadow of Hell || Satan Loose, Forman; Satan at Large, Dowden. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1817.

And with millions of demons in his train,
Was ranging over the world again.
Before the Angel had told his tale,

A sweet and a creeping sound

Like the rushing of wings was heard around; And suddenly the lamps grew pale The lamps, before the Archangels seven That burn continually in heaven.

CONSEQUENCE

The viewless and invisible Consequence
Watches thy goings-out, and comings-in,
And ... hovers o'er thy guilty sleep,
Unveiling every new-born deed, and thoughts
More ghastly than those deeds.

A HATE-SONG

A HATER he came and sat by a ditch,

And he took an old cracked lute; And he

sang a song which was more of a screech 'Gainst a woman that was a brute.

A FACE

His face was like a snake's — wrinkled and loose
And withered.

Consequence, Forman. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1820.
A Hate-Song. Published by Rossetti, 1870, dated 1817.
A Face, Forman. Published by Rossetti, 1870; dated 1820.