Shelley—Selected Poems
 
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
 
 
When The Lamp Is Shattered
 
 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,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
 When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.
 
 As music and splendor
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
 The heart's echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute:--
 No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
 Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman's knell.
 
 When hearts have once mingled,
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
 The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
 O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
 Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
 
 Its passions will rock thee,
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
 Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come. 1824
 
 

To Jane (The keen stars were twinkling)

The keen stars were twinkling,
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane.
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them
Again----
As the moon's soft splendour
O'er the faint cold starlight of Heaven
Is thrown----
So your voice most tender
To the strings without soul had then given
Its own.

The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later
To-night;
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the dews of your melody scatter
Delight.
Though the sound overpowers,
Sing again, with your dear voice revealing
A tone
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
Are one. 1832