FRAGMENT: A SOUL KNOWN.1

I AM as a spirit who has dwelt
Within his heart of hearts, and I have felt

His feelings, and have thought his thoughts, and known
The inmost converse of his soul, the tone
Unheard but in the silence of his blood,
When all the pulses in their multitude
Image the trembling calm of summer seas.
I have unlocked the golden melodies
Of his deep soul, as with a master-key,

And loosened them and bathed myself therein-
Even as an eagle in a thunder-mist
Clothing his wings with lightning.

FRAGMENT: IS NOT TO-DAY ENOUGH?

Is not to-day enough? Why do I peer
Into the darkness of the day to come?

Is not to-morrow even as yesterday?

And will the day that follows change thy doom? Few flowers grow upon thy wintry way;

And who waits for thee in that cheerless home Whence thou hast fled, whither thou must return Charged with the load that makes thee faint and mourn?

1 This and the next five fragments are from Relics of Shelley. Mr. Garnett assigns them to the year 1819.

I have supplied the headings for convenience of reference.

FRAGMENT: QUESTIONS.

Is it that in some brighter sphere

We part from friends we meet with here? Or do we see the Future pass

Over the Present's dusky glass?

Or what is that that makes us seem
To patch up fragments of a dream,
Part of which comes true, and part
Beats and trembles in the heart?

FRAGMENT: TO ITALY.

As the sunrise to the night,

As the north wind to the clouds, As the earthquake's fiery flight, Ruining mountain solitudes,

Everlasting Italy,

Be those hopes and fears on thee.

FRAGMENT OF AN INVITATION.

FOLLOW to the deep wood's weeds,

Follow to the wild briar dingle,
Where we seek to intermingle,

And the violet tells her tale
To the odour-scented gale,

For they two have enough to do

Of such work as I and you.

THE BIRTH OF PLEASURE.

AT the creation of the Earth
Pleasure, that divinest birth,
From the soil of Heaven did rise,
Wrapt in sweet wild melodies-
Like an exhalation wreathing
To the sound of air low-breathing
Through Eolian pines, which make
A shade and shelter to the lake
Whence it rises soft and slow;
Her life breathing [limbs] did flow
In the harmony divine

Of an ever-lengthening line
Which enwrapt her perfect form

With a beauty clear and warm.

FRAGMENT: LOVE THE UNIVERSE. 1

AND who feels discord now or sorrow?
Love is the universe to-day-

These are the slaves of dim to-morrow,
Darkening Life's labyrinthine way.

1 This and the next three fragments were first given by Mrs. Shelley in the first edition of 1839,-without titles.

I have supplied the headings, here as in some other cases, for convenience of reference.

FRAGMENT: WINE OF EGLANTINE.

I AM drunk with the honey wine
Of the moon-unfolded eglantine,

Which fairies catch in hyacinth bowls :1.
The bats, the dormice, and the moles.
Sleep in the walls or under the sward
Of the desolate Castle yard;

And when 'tis spilt on the sunmer earth
Or its fumes arise among the dew,
Their jocund dreams are full of mirth,
They gibber their joy in sleep; for few
Of the fairies bear those bowls so new!

FRAGMENT: CALM THOUGHTS.

YE gentle visitations of calm thought-
Moods like the memories of happier earth,
Which come arrayed in thoughts of little worth,
Like stars in clouds by the weak winds enwrought,
But that the clouds depart and stars remain,
While they remain, and ye, alas, depart!

FRAGMENT: DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

AND where is truth? On tombs ? for such to thee
Has been my heart--and thy dead memory
Has lain from childhood, many a changeful year-
Unchangingly preserved and buried there.

In Mrs. Shelley's editions, buds; but bowls in the MS., as stated by Mr.

VOL. IV.

Garnett, at p. 95 of the Relics of
Shelley.

C

FRAGMENT:

"A GENTLE STORY OF TWO LOVERS YOUNG."1

A GENTLE story of two lovers young,

Who met in innocence and died in sorrow,
And of one selfish heart, whose rancour clung
Like curses on them; are ye slow to borrow
The lore of truth from such a tale?
Or in this world's deserted vale,

Do ye not see a star of gladness

Pierce the shadows of its sadness,

When ye are cold, that love is a light sent From heaven, which none shall quench, to cheer the