The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error, Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew.

AN ALLEGORY

I

A PORTAL as of shadowy adamant

Stands yawning on the highway of the life Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt;

Around it rages an unceasing strife Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky.

II

And many pass it by with careless tread,

Not knowing that a shadowy Tracks every traveller even to where the dead

Wait peacefully for their companion new; But others, by more curious humor led,

Pause to examine; these are very few, And they learn little there, except to know That shadows follow them where'er they go.

THE WORLD'S WANDERERS

I

TELL me, thou star, whose wings of light

Speed thee in thy fiery flight, An Allegory. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 1824. ii. 1 pass, Rossetti || passed, Mrs. Shelley, 1824. The World's Wanderers. Published by Mrs. Shelley, 1824. In what cavern of the night

Will thy pinions close now?

II

Tell me, moon, thou pale and gray
Pilgrim of heaven's homeless way,
In what depth of night or day

Seekest thou repose now?

III
Weary wind, who wanderest
Like the world's rejected guest,
Hast thou still some secret nest

On the tree or billow ?

SONNET

YE hasten to the grave! What seek

What seek ye there, Ye restless thoughts and busy purposes Of the idle brain, which the world's livery

wear ? O thou quick heart, which pantest to possess All that pale expectation feigneth fair ! Thou vainly curious mind which wouldest guess

Whence thou didst come, and whither thou must go,
And all that never yet was known would know,-
Oh, whither hasten ye, that thus ye press
With such swift feet life's green and pleasant path,
Seeking alike from happiness and woe
A refuge in the cavern of gray death ?
O heart, and mind, and thoughts ! what thing do

you
Hope to inherit in the grave below?

LINES TO A REVIEWER

ALAS! good friend, what profit can you see

In hating such a hateless thing as me?
1 There is no sport in hate when all the rage

Is on one side. In vain would you assuage
Your frowns upon an unresisting smile,
In which not even contempt lurks to beguile
Your heart by some faint sympathy of hate.
Oh, conquer what you cannot satiate !
For to your passion I am far more coy
Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy
In winter noon. Of your antipathy
If I am the Narcissus, you are free
To pine into a sound with hating me.
7 must, Harvard MS., Hunt, 1823 || mayst, Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

TIME LONG PAST

I

LIKE the ghost of a dear friend dead

Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,

Was Time long past.

II

There were sweet dreams in the night

Of Time long past : And, was it sadness or delight, Each day a shadow onward cast Which made us wish it yet might last

That Time long past.

III

There is regret, almost remorse,

For Time long past.
'Tis like a child's beloved corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance cast

From Time long past.
Time Long Past. Published by Rossetti, 1870.

BUONA NOTTE

I “BUONA notte, buona notte!” Come mai

La notte sarà buona senza te?
Non dirmi buona notte, chè tu sai,
La notte sà star buona da

per

sè.

II

Solinga, scura, cupa, senza speme,

La notte quando Lilla m'abbandona; Pei cuori chi si batton insieme

Ogni notte, senza dirla, sarà buona.

III
Come male buona notte si suona

Con sospiri e parole interrotte!
Il modo di aver la notte buona

E mai non di dir la buona notte.

GOOD-NIGHT

I

GOOD-NIGHT? ah, no! the hour is ill

Which severs those it should unite;