The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Stanza, written at Bracknell

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

STANZA, WRITTEN AT BRACKNELL

[Composed March, 1814. Published in Hogg's Life of Shelley, 1858.]

Thy dewy looks sink in my breast;
Thy gentle words stir poison there:
Thou hast disturbed the only rest
That was the portion of despair!
Subdued to Duty's hard control,5
I could have borne my wayward lot:
The chains that bind this ruined soul
Had cankered then—but crushed it not.