The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley - Volume 1 (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...sun, which shone and smiled _245 To see it rise thus joyous from its dreams, The fresh and radiant Earth. The hoary grove Waxed green-and flowers burst forth like starry beams;- The grass in the warm sun did start and move, And sea-buds burst under the waves serene: - _250 How many a one, though none be near to love, Loves then the shade of his own soul, half seen In any mirror-or the spring's young minions, The winged leaves amid the copses green;- How many a spirit then puts on the pinions _255 Of fancy, and outstrips the lagging blast, And his own steps-and over wide dominions Sweeps in his dream-drawn chariot, far and fast, More fleet than storms-the wide world shrinks below, When winter and despondency are past. _260 FRAGMENT 5. 'Twas at this season that Prince Athanase Passed the white Alps-those eagle-baffling mountains Slept in their shrouds of snow;-beside the ways The waterfalls were voiceless-for their fountains Were changed to mines of sunless crystal now, _265 Or by the curdling winds-like brazen wings Which clanged along the mountain's marble brow- Warped into adamantine fretwork, hung And filled with frozen light the chasms below. Vexed by the blast, the great pines groaned and swung _270 Under their load of snow- ... ... Such as the eagle sees, when he dives down From the gray deserts of wide air, beheld _275 Prince Athanase; and o'er his mien (?) was thrown The shadow of that scene, field after field, Purple and dim and wide... FRAGMENT 6. Thou art the wine whose drunkenness is all We can desire, O Love and happy souls, _280 Ere from thy vine the leaves of autumn fall, Catch thee, and feed from their o'erflowing bowls Thousands who thirst for thine ambrosial dew;- Thou art the radiance which where ocean rolls Investeth it; and when the heavens are blue _285 Thou fillest them; and when the earth is fair The shadow of thy moving wings imbue Its deserts and its mountains, till they wear Beauty like some light...