The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/On a Faded Violet

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

ON A FADED VIOLET

[Published by Hunt, Literary Pocket-Book, 1821. Reprinted by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824. Again reprinted, with several variants, P. W., 1839, 1st ed. Our text is that of the editio princeps, 1821. A transcript is extant in a letter from Shelley to Sophia Stacey, dated March 7, 1820.]

I
The odour^[1] from the flower is gone
 Which like thy kisses breathed^[2] on me;
The colour^[3] from the flower is flown
 Which glowed^[4] of thee and only thee!

II
A shrivelled,^[5] lifeless, vacant form, 5
 It lies on my abandoned breast.
And mocks the heart which yet is warm,
 With cold and silent^[6] rest.

III
I weep,—my tears revive it not!
 I sigh,—it breathes no more on me; 10
Its mute and uncomplaining lot
 Is such as mine should be.

 

1. On a Faded Violet—odour] colour 1839.
2. kisses breathed] sweet eyes smiled 1839.
3. colour] odour 1839.
4. glowed] breathed 1839.
5. shrivelled] withered 1839.
6. cold and silent all edd.; its cold, silent Stacey MS.