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

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The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
To Edward Williams
To ——. 'One word is too often profaned'
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TO EDWARD WILLIAMS

[Published in Ascham's edition of the Poems, 1834. There is a copy amongst the Trelawny MSS.]

IThe serpent is shut out from Paradise.The wounded deer must seek the herb no moreIn which its heart-cure lies:The widowed dove must cease to haunt a bowerLike that from which its mate with feigned sighs 5Fled in the April horn.I too must seldom seek againNear happy friends a mitigated pain.
IIOf hatred I am proud,—with scorn content;Indifference, that once hurt me, now is grown[1] 10Itself indifferent;But, not to speak of love, pity alone ​Can break a spirit already more than bent. The miserable one Turns the mind's poison into food,— 15Its medicine is tears,—its evil good.
IIITherefore, if now I see you seldomer.Dear friends, dear friend![2] know that I only flyYour looks, because they stir Griefs that should sleep, and hopes that cannot die: 20The very comfort that they minister I scarce can bear, yet I, So deeply is the arrow gone, Should quickly perish if it were withdrawn.
IVWhen I return to my cold home, you ask 25Why I am not as I have ever[3] been.You spoil me for the task Of acting a forced part in[4] life's dull scene,—Of wearing on my brow the idle maskOf author, great or mean, 30In the world's carnival. I sought Peace thus, and but in you I found it not.
VFull half an hour, to-day, I tried my lotWith various flowers, and every one still said,'She loves me—loves me not.' 35And if this meant a vision long since fled—If it meant fortune, fame, or peace of thought—If it meant,—but I dread To speak what you may know too well: Still there was truth in the sad oracle. 40
VIThe crane o'er seas and forests seeks her home; No bird so wild but has its quiet nest,When[5] it no more would roam; The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast Break like a bursting heart, and die in foam, 45And thus at length find rest: Doubtless there is a place of peace Where my weak heart and all its throbs will[6] cease.
VIII asked her, yesterday, if she believedThat I had resolution. One who had 50Would ne'er have thus relieved ​His heart with words,—but what his judgement badeWould do, and leave the scorner unrelieved[7] . These verses are[8] too sad To send to you, but that I know, 55Happy yourself, you feel another's woe.

  1. ↑ To Edward Williams—10 Indifference, which once hurt me, is now grown Trelawny MS.
  2. ↑ 18 Dear friends, dear friend Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; Dear gentle friend 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
  3. ↑ 26 ever] lately Trelawny MS.
  4. ↑ 28 in Trelawny MS.; on 1834, edd. 1839.
  5. ↑ 43 When 1839, 2nd ed.; Whence 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
  6. ↑ 48 will 1839, 2nd ed.; shall 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
  7. ↑ 53 unrelieved Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed. unreprieved 1834, 1839, 1st ed.
  8. ↑ 54 are] were Trelawny MS.
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