The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/'When a lover clasps his fairest'
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FRAGMENT: 'WHEN A LOVER CLASPS HIS FAIREST'
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839, 2nd ed.]
I
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! 5
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! 5
II
When a mother clasps her child,
Watch till dusty Death has piled
His cold ashes on the clay;
She has loved it many a day—
She remains,—it fades away. 10
When a mother clasps her child,
Watch till dusty Death has piled
His cold ashes on the clay;
She has loved it many a day—
She remains,—it fades away. 10