The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/The Fugitives

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

THE FUGITIVES

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824.]

IThe waters are flashing,The white hail is dashing.The lightnings are glancing,The hoar-spray is dancing—Away! 5

The whirlwind is rolling,The thunder is tolling,The forest is swinging.The minster bells ringingCome away! 10

The Earth is like Ocean,Wreck-strewn and in motion:Bird, beast, man and wormHave crept out of the storm—Come away!15

II'Our boat has one sail,And the helmsman is pale;—A bold pilot I trow,Who should follow us now,'—Shouted he—20

And she cried: 'Ply the oar!Put off gaily from shore!'—As she spoke, bolts of deathMixed with hail, specked their path  O'er the sea. 25

And from isle, tower and rock,The blue beacon-cloud broke,And though^[1] dumb in the blast,(The red cannon flashed fast  From the lee. 30

IIIAnd 'Fear'st thou?' and 'Fear'st thou?'And 'Seest thou?' and 'Hear'st thou?'And 'Drive we not freeO'er the terrible sea,  I and thou?' 35

One boat-cloak did coverThe loved and the lover—Their blood beats one measure,They murmur proud pleasure  Soft and low;— 40

While around the lashed Ocean,Like mountains in motion,Is withdrawn and uplifted,Sunk, shattered and shifted  To and fro. 45

IVIn the court of the fortressBeside the pale portress,Like a bloodhound well beatenThe bridegroom stands, eatenBy shame; 50

On the topmost watch-turret,As a death-boding spirit,Stands the gray tyrant father,To his voice the mad weatherSeems tame; 55

And with curses as wildAs e'er clung^[2] to child,He devotes to the blast,The best, loveliest and lastOf his name! 60

 

1. 28 And though] Though edd. 1839.
2. 57 clung] cling edd. 1839.