Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Percy Bysshe Shelley. 17921822617. Remorse
AWAY! the moor is dark beneath the moon, | |
Rapid clouds have drunk the last pale beam of even: | |
Away! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon, | |
And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven. | |
Pause not! the time is past! Every voice cries, ‘Away!’ | 5 |
Tempt not with one last tear thy friend’s ungentle mood: | |
Thy lover’s eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay: | |
Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude. | |
Away, away! to thy sad and silent home; | |
Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth; | 10 |
Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come, | |
And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth. | |
The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head, | |
The blooms of dewy Spring shall gleam beneath thy feet: | |
But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead, | 15 |
Ere midnight’s frown and morning’s smile, ere thou and peace, may meet. | |
The cloud shadows of midnight possess their own repose, | |
For the weary winds are silent, or the moon is in the deep; | |
Some respite to its turbulence unresting ocean knows; | |
Whatever moves or toils or grieves hath its appointed sleep. | 20 |
Thou in the grave shalt rest:—yet, till the phantoms flee, | |
Which that house and heath and garden made dear to thee erewhile, | |
Thy remembrance and repentance and deep musings are not free | |
From the music of two voices, and the light of one sweet smile. |