The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/To —. 'Oh! there are spirits of the air'
Oh! there are spirits of[1] the air,And genii of the evening breeze,And gentle ghosts, with eyes as fairAs star-beams among twilight trees:—Such lovely ministers to meet 5Oft hast thou turned from men thy lonely feet.
With mountain winds, and babbling springs,And moonlight[2] seas, that are the voiceOf these inexplicable things,Thou didst hold commune, and rejoice 10When they did answer thee; but theyCast, like a worthless boon, thy love away.
And thou hast sought in starry eyesBeams that were never meant for thine,Another's wealth:—tame sacrifice 15To a fond faith! still dost thou pine?Still dost thou hope that greeting hands,Voice, looks, or lips, may answer thy demands?
Ah! wherefore didst thou build thine hopeOn the false earth's inconstancy? 20Did thine own mind afford no scopeOf love, or moving thoughts to thee?That natural scenes or human smilesCould steal the power to wind thee in their wiles?
Yes, all the faithless smiles are fled 25Whose falsehood left thee broken-hearted;The glory of the moon is dead;Night's ghosts and dreams have now departed;Thine own soul still is true to thee,But changed to a foul fiend through misery. 30
This fiend, whose ghastly presence everBeside thee like thy shadow hangs,Dream not to chase;—the mad endeavourWould scourge thee to severer pangs.Be as thou art. Thy settled fate, 35Dark as it is, all change would aggravate.