CCXIX

DEDICATION OF THE REVOLT OF ISLAM TO HIS

WIFE.
So now my summer-task is ended, Mary,
And I return to thee, mine own heart's home;
As to his Queen some victor Knight of Faëry,
Earning bright spoils for her enchanted dome ;
Nor thou disdain, that ere my fame become

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A star among the stars of mortal night,
If it indeed may cleave its natal gloom,
Its doubtful promise thus I would unite
With thy beloved name, thou Child of love and light.
The toil which stole from thee so many an hour,
Is ended,—and the fruit is at thy feet!
No longer where the woods to frame a bower
With interlaced branches mix and meet,
Or where with sound like many voices sweet,
Water-falls leap among wild islands green,

15 Which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat Of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen: But beside thee, where still my heart has ever been. Thoughts of great deeds were mine, dear Friend, when first The clouds which wrap this world from youth did pass. I do remember well the hour which burst My spirit's sleep: a fresh May-dawn it was, When I walked forth upon the glittering grass, And wept, I knew not why; until there rose From the near school-room voices, that, alas!

25 Were but one echo from a world of woes-The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes. And then I clasped my hands and looked around But none was near to mock my streaming eyes, Which poured their warm drops on the sunny groundSo without shame I spake :— I will be wise,

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And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies
Such power, for I grow weary to behold
The selfish and the strong still tyrannise
Without reproach or check.' I then controlled

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My tears, my heart grew calm, and I was meek and bold.
And from that hour did I with earnest thought
Heap knowledge from forbidden mines of lore,
Yet nothing that my tyrants knew or taught
I cared to learn, but from that secret store

40 Wrought linked armour for my soul, before It might walk forth to war among mankind; Thus power and hope were strengthened more and more Within me, till there came upon my mind A sense of loneliness, a thirst with which I pined. 45 Alas, that love should be a blight and snare To those who seek all sympathies in one! Such once I sought in vain; then black despair, The shadow of a starless night, was thrown Over the world in which I moved alone :

50 Yet never found I one not false to me, Hard hearts, and cold, like weights of icy stone, Which crushed and withered mine, that could not be Aught but a lifeless clog, until revived by thee. Thou Friend, whose presence on my wintry heart 55 Fell, like bright spring upon some herbless plain, How beautiful and calm and free thou wert In thy young wisdom, when the mortal chain Of Custom thou didst burst and rend in twain, And walked as free as light the clouds among,

60 Which many an envious slave then breathed in vain From his dim dungeon, and my spirit sprung To meet thee from the woes which had begirt it long. No more alone through the world's wilderness, Although I trod the paths of high intent,

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I journeyed now: no more companionless,
Where solitude is like despair, I went.--
There is the wisdom of a stern content,
When Poverty can blight the just and good,
When Infamy dares mock the innocent,
And cherished friends turn with the multitude
To trample: this was ours, and we unshaken stood !

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Now has descended a serener hour,
And, with inconstant fortune, friends return;
Though suffering leaves the knowledge and the power 75
Which says :—Let scorn be not repaid with scorn ;
And from thy side two gentle babes are born
To fill our home with siniles, and thus are we
Most fortunate beneath life's beaming morn;
And these delights, and thou, have been to me

80 The parents of the Song I consecrate to thee.

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Is it, that now my inexperienced fingers
But strike the prelude of a loftier strain?
Or must the lyre on which my spirit lingers
Soon pause in silence, ne'er to sound again,
Though it might shake the Anarch Custom's reign,
And charin the minds of men to Truth's own sway,
Holier than was Amphion's? I would fain
Reply in hope—but I am worn away,
And Death and Love are yet contending for their prey.
And what art thou? I know, but dare not speak : 91
Time may interpret to his silent years.
Yet in the paleness of thy thoughtful cheek,
And in the light thine ample forehead wears,
And in thy sweetest smiles, and in thy tears,

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And in thy gentle speech, a prophecy
Is whispered, to subdue my fondest fears :
And through thine eyes, even in thy soul I see
A lamp of vestal fire burning internally.

They say that thou wert lovely from thy birth,
Of glorious parents, thou aspiring Child :
I wonder not-for one then left this earth,
Whose life was like a setting planet mild,
Which clothed thee in the radiance undefiled
Of its departing glory; still her fame

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Shines on thee through the tempests dark and wild,
Which shake these latter days; and thou canst claim.
The shelter, from thy Sire, of an immortal name.
Truth's deathless voice pauses among mankind !
If there must be no response to my cry-
If men must rise and stamp with fury blind
On his pure name who loves them-thou and I,
Sweet Friend! can look from our tranquillity
Like lamps into the world's tempestuous night,-
Two tranquil stars, while clouds are passing by 115
Which wrap them from the foundering seaman's sight,
That burn from year to year with unextinguished light.

Percy Bysshe Shelley.

IIO

CCXX

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FRANCE: AN ODE, 1797.
Ye clouds ! that far above me float and pause,

Whose pathless march no mortal may control !

Ye ocean-waves! that, wheresoe'er ye roll,
Yield homage only to eternal laws !
Ye woods! that listen to the night-birds singing,.

Midway the smooth and perilous slope reclined,
Save when your own imperious branches swinging

Have made a solemn music of the wind!
Where, like a man beloved of God,
Through glooms, which never woodman trod,

How oft, pursuing fancies holy,
My moonlight way o'er flowering weeds I wound,

Inspired, beyond the guess of folly,
By each rude shape and wild unconquerable sound !

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O ye loud waves ! and 0 ye forests high!

15 And 0 ye clouds that far above me soared ! Thou rising sun! thou blue rejoicing sky!

Yea, every thing that is and will be free!
Bear witness for me, wheresoe'er ye.be,
With what deep worship I have still adored

The spirit of divinest Liberty.
When France in wrath her giant-limbs upreared,

And with that oath, which smote air, earth, and sea,

Stamped her strong foot, and said she would be free, Bear witness for me, how I hoped and feared !

25 With what a joy my lofty gratulation

Unawed I sang, amid a slavish band :
And when to whelm the disenchanted nation,
Like fiends embattled by a wizard's wand,
The Monarchs marched in evil day

And Britain joined the dire array ;
Though dear her shores and circling ocean,
Though many friendships, many youthful loves

Had swoln the patriot ernotion
And flung a magic light o'er all her hills and groves ; 35
Yet still my voice, unaltered, sang defeat

To all that braved the tyrant-quelling lance,
And shame too long delayed and vain retreat!
For ne'er, O Liberty! with partial aim
I dimmed thy light or damped thy holy flame ;

But blessed the pæans of delivered France,
And hung my head and wept at Britain's name.
. And what,' I said, “though Blasphemy's loud scream

With that sweet music of deliverance strove ?

Though all the fierce and drunken passions wove 45 A dance more wild than e'er was maniac's dream ?

Ye storms, that round the dawning east assembled, The sun was rising, though ye hid his light!'

And when, to soothe my soul, that hoped and trembled, The dissonance ceased, and all seemed calm and bright;

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