Percy Bysshe Shelley

“ As, when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shine
To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.
XLVII
At first Laone spoke most tremulously;
But soon her voice the calmness which it shed
Gathered, and—`Thou art whom I sought to see,
And thou art our first votary here,' she said;
`I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!
And, of all those on the wide earth who breathe,
Thou dost resemble him alone. I spread
This veil between us two that thou beneath
Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death. ”

“ And every one on them more gently smiled
Because they had done evil; the sweet awe
Of such mild looks made their own hearts grow mild,
And did with soft attraction ever draw
Their spirits to the love of freedom's equal law. ”

“ A rite to attest the equality of all
Who live. So to their homes, to dream or wake,
All went. The sleepless silence did recall
Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that make
The flood recede from which their thirst they seek to slake. ”

“ All blasts of fragrance into one,
Comest upon the paths of men!
Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken,
And all her children here in glory meet
To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet. ”

“ To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,
Descends amidst us! Scorn and Hate,
Revenge and Selfishness, are desolate!
A hundred nations swear that there shall be
Pity and Peace and Love among the good and free! ”

“ Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore,
Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,
The green lands cradled in the roar
Of western waves, and wildernesses
Peopled and vast which skirt the oceans,
Where Morning dyes her golden tresses,
Shall soon partake our high emotions.
Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear,
The Fiend-God, when our charmèd name he hear,
Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes,
While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost empire reigns!'
LII
Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwining
Their dim woof floated o'er the infinite throng ”

“ All shapes might throng to share that fly or walk or creep;
LVI
Might share in peace and innocence, for gore
Or poison none this festal did pollute,
But, piled on high, an overflowing store
Of pomegranates and citrons, fairest fruit,
Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a root
Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet
Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute
Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set
In baskets; with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet. ”

“ Be as a grave which gives not up its dead
To evil thoughts.'—A film then overcast
My sense with dimness, for the wound, which bled
Freshly, swift shadows o'er mine eyes had shed.
When I awoke, I lay 'mid friends and foes,
And earnest countenances on me shed
The light of questioning looks, whilst one did close
My wound with balmiest herbs, and soothed me to repose ”

“ Refuge from the keen looks which through his bosom ran.
XXX
And he was faint withal. I sate beside him
Upon the earth, and took that child so fair
From his weak arms, that ill might none betide him
Or her; when food was brought to them, her share
To his averted lips the child did bear,
But, when she saw he had enough, she ate,
And wept the while; the lonely man's despair
Hunger then overcame, and, of his state
Forgetful, on the dust as in a trance he sate. ”

“ Maternal Earth, who doth her sweet smiles shed
For all—let him go free, until the worth
Of human nature win from these a second birth.
XXXIV
`What call ye justice? Is there one who ne'er
In secret thought has wished another's ill? ”

“ But ye have quenched them—there were smiles to steep
Your hearts in balm, but they are lost in woe;
And those whom love did set his watch to keep
Around your tents truth's freedom to bestow,
Ye stabbed as they did sleep—but they forgive ye now.
XI
`Oh, wherefore should ill ever flow from ill,
And pain still keener pain forever breed?
We all are brethren—even the slaves who kill
For hire are men ”

“ By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchant
The faiths of men. All mortal eyes were drawn—
As famished mariners through strange seas gone
Gaze on a burning watch-tower—by the light
Of those divinest lineaments. Alone,
With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight
I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright. ”

“ That to no smiles it might his speechless sadness move.
XXII
She fled to him, and wildly clasped his feet
When human steps were heard; he moved nor spoke,
Nor changed his hue, nor raised his looks to meet
The gaze of strangers. ”

“ A human babe and a young basilisk;
Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest
In Autumn eves. The third Image was dressed
In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;
Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, repressed
Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,—
While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.
LI
Beside that Image then I sate, while she
Stood 'mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed,
Like light amid the shadows of the sea
Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd
That touch which none who feels forgets bestowed ”

“ The gentle hearts whose power their lives had sought to spare.
VII
Like rabid snakes that sting some gentle child
Who brings them food when winter false and fair
Allures them forth with its cold smiles, so wild
They rage among the camp ”