The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Lines Written in the Bay of Lerici
LINES WRITTEN IN THE BAY OF LERICI
[Published from the Boscombe MSS. by Dr. Garnett, Macmillan's Magazine, June, 1862; reprinted, Relics of Shelley, 1862.]
She left me at the silent timeWhen the moon had ceased to climbThe azure path of Heaven's steep,And like an albatross asleep,Balanced on her wings of light, 5Hovered in the purple night,Ere she sought her ocean nestIn the chambers of the West.She left me, and I stayed aloneThinking over every tone 10Which, though silent[1] to the ear,The enchanted heart could hear,Like notes which die when born, but stillHaunt the echoes of the hill;And feeling ever—oh, too much!—The soft vibration of her touch, 16As if her gentle hand, even now,Lightly trembled on my brow;And thus, although she absent were,Memory gave me all of her 20That even Fancy dares to claim:—Her presence had made weak and tameAll passions, and I lived aloneIn the time which is our own;The past and future were forgot, 25As they had been, and would be, not.But soon, the guardian angel gone,The daemon reassumed his throneIn my faint heart. I dare not speakMy thoughts, but thus disturbed and weak 30I sat and saw[2] the vessels glideOver the ocean bright and wide,Like spirit-winged chariots sentO'er some serenest elementFor ministrations strange and far; 35As if to some Elysian starSailed for drink to medicineSuch sweet and bitter pain as mine.And the wind that winged their flightFrom the land came fresh and light,And the scent of winged flowers, 41And the coolness of the hoursOf dew, and sweet warmth left by day,Were scattered o'er the twinkling bay.And the fisher with his lamp 45And spear about the low rocks dampCrept, and struck the fish which cameTo worship the delusive flame.Too happy they, whose pleasure soughtExtinguishes all sense and thoughtOf the regret that pleasure leaves, 51Destroying life alone, not peace!
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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