The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Lines: 'When the lamp is shattered'

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

LINES: 'WHEN THE LAMP IS SHATTERED'

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, Posthumous Poems, 1824. There is a copy amongst the Trelawny MSS.]

I
 When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead—
 When the cloud is scattered
The rainbow's glory is shed.
 When the lute is broken, 5
Sweet tones^[1] are remembered not;
 When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.

II
 As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute, 10
 The heart's echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute:—
 No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through^[2] a ruined cell,
 Or the mournful surges 15
That ring the dead^[3] seaman's knell.

III
 When hearts have once mingled
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
 The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed. 20
 O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here
 Why choose^[4] you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

IV ^[5]
 Its passions will rock thee 25
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
 Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
 From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home 30
  Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.

 

1. 6 tones ed. 1824; notes Trelawny MS.
2. 14 through ed. 1824; in Trelawny MS.
3. 16 dead ed. 1824; lost Trelawny MS.
4. 23 choose ed. 1824; chose Trelawny MS.
5. 25-32 wanting Trelawny MS.