The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/To Sophia (Miss Stacey)
TO SOPHIA [MISS STACEY]
[Published by W. M. Rossetti, Complete P. W., 1870.]
IThou art fair, and few are fairerOf the Nymphs of earth or ocean;They are robes that fit the wearer—Those soft limbs of thine, whose motionEver falls and shifts and glances 5As the life within them dances.
IIThy deep eyes, a double Planet,Gaze the wisest into madnessWith soft clear fire,—the winds that fan itAre those thoughts of tender gladness 10Which, like zephyrs on the billow,Make thy gentle soul their pillow.
IIIIf, whatever face thou paintestIn those eyes, grows pale with pleasure,If the fainting soul is faintest 15When it hears thy harp's wild measure,Wonder not that when thou speakestOf the weak my heart is weakest.
IVAs dew beneath the wind of morning,As the sea which whirlwinds waken, 20As the birds at thunder's warning,As aught mute yet deeply shaken,As one who feels an unseen spiritIs my heart when thine is near it.