The Complete Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The signs of that innumerable host,
To hear one sound of many made, the warning
2065
Of Earth to Heaven from its free children tossed,
While the eternal hills, and the sea lost
In wavering light, and, starring the blue sky
The city’s myriad spires of gold, almost
With human joy made mute society—
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Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be.
XL
To see, like some vast island from the Ocean,
The Altar of the Federation rear
Its pile i’ the midst; a work which the devotion
Of millions in one night created there,
2075
Sudden, as when the moonrise makes appear
Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramid
Distinct with steps: that mighty shape did wear
The light of genius; its still shadow hid
Far ships: to know its height the morning mists forbid!
XLI
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To hear the restless multitudes for ever
Around the base of that great Altar flow,
As on some mountain-islet burst and shiver
Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow
As the wind bore that tumult to and fro,
2085
To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim
Like beams through floating clouds on waves below
Falling in pauses, from that Altar dim
As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aëreal hymn.
XLII
To hear, to see, to live, was on that morn
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Lethean joy! so that all those assembled
Cast off their memories of the past outworn;
Two only bosoms with their own life trembled.
And mine was one,—and we had both dissembled;
So with a beating heart I went, and one,
2095
Who having much, covets yet more, resembled;
A lost and dear possession, which not won,
He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun.
XLIII
To the great Pyramid I came: its stair
With female choirs was thronged: the loveliest
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Among the free, grouped with its sculptures rare;
As I approached, the morning’s golden mist,
Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kissed
With their cold lips, fled, and the summit shone
Like Athos seen from Samothracia, dressed
2105
In earliest light, by vintagers, and one
Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne:
XLIV
A Form most like the imagined habitant
Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn,
By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchant
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The faiths of men: all mortal eyes were drawn,
As famished mariners through strange seas gone
Gaze on a burning watch-tower, by the light
Of those divinest lineaments—alone
With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight
2115
I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright.
XLV
And, neither did I hear the acclamations,
Which from brief silence bursting, filled the air
With her strange name and mine, from all the nations
Which we, they said, in strength had gathered there
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From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair
Of that bright pageantry beheld,—but blind
And silent, as a breathing corpse did fare,
Leaning upon my friend, till like a wind
To fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o’er my troubled mind.
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Like music of some minstrel heavenly-gifted,
To one whom fiends enthral, this voice to me;
Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted,
I was so calm and joyous.—I could see
The platform where we stood, the statues three
2130
Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine,
The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea;
As when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shine
To men’s astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.
XLVII
At first Laone spoke most tremulously:
2135
But soon her voice the calmness which it shed
Gathered, and—‘Thou art whom I sought to see,
And thou art our first votary here,’ she said:
‘I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!—
And of all those on the wide earth who breathe,
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Thou dost resemble him alone—I spread
This veil between us two, that thou beneath
Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.
XLVIII
‘For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?
Yes, but those joys which silence well requite
2145
Forbid reply;—why men have chosen me
To be the Priestess of this holiest rite
I scarcely know, but that the floods of light
Which flow over the world, have borne me hither
To meet thee, long most dear; and now unite
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Thine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither
From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beat together,
XLIX
‘If our own will as others’ law we bind,
If the foul worship trampled here we fear;
If as ourselves we cease to love our kind!’—
2155
She paused, and pointed upwards—sculptured there
Three shapes around her ivory throne appear;
One was a Giant, like a child asleep
On a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it were
In dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keep
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Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;
L
A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk
Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast
A human babe and a young basilisk;
Her looks were sweet as Heaven’s when loveliest
2165
In Autumn eves. The third Image was dressed
In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;
Beneath his feet, ’mongst ghastliest forms, repressed
Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,
While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.
LI
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Beside that Image then I sate, while she
Stood, mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed,
Like light amid the shadows of the sea
Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd
That touch which none who feels forgets, bestowed;
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And whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze
Of the great Image, as o’er Heaven it glode.
That rite had place; it ceased when sunset’s blaze
Burned o’er the isles. All stood in joy and deep amaze—
—When in the silence of all spirits there
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Laone’s voice was felt, and through the air
Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair:—
1
‘Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong
As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young,
That float among the blinding beams of morning;
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And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly,
Custom, and Hell, and mortal Melancholy—
&n
Of thy voice sublime and holy;
Its free spirits here assembled,
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See thee, feel thee, know thee now,—
To thy voice their hearts have trembled
Like ten thousand clouds which flow
With one wide wind as it flies!—
Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise
2195
To hail thee, and the elements they chain
And their own will, to swell the glory of thy train.
2
‘O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven!
Mother and soul of all to which is given
The light of life, the loveliness of being,
2200
Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart,
Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert
In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing
The shade of thee:—now, millions start
To feel thy lightnings through them burning:
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Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure,
Or Sympathy the sad tears turning
To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,
Descends amidst us;—Scorn, and Hate,
Revenge and Selfishness are desolate—
2210
A hundred nations swear that there shall be
Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!
3
‘Eldest of things, divine Equality!
Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee,
The Angels of thy sway, who pour around thee
2215
Treasures from all the cells of human thought,
And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,
And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee:
The powerful and the wise had sought
Thy coming, thou in light descending
2220
O’er the wide land which is thine own
Like the Spring whose breath is blending
All blasts of fragrance into one,
Comest upon the paths of men!—
Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken,
2225
And all her children here in glory meet
To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet.
4
‘My brethren, we are free! the plains and mountains,
The gray sea-shore, the forests and the fountains,
Are haunts of happiest dwellers;—man and woman,
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Their common bondage burst, may freely borrow
From lawless love a solace for their sorrow;
For oft we still must weep, since we are human.
A stormy night’s serenest morrow,
Whose showers are pity’s gentle tears,
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Whose clouds are smiles of those that die
Like infants without hopes or fears,
And whose beams are joys that lie
In blended hearts, now holds dominion;
The dawn of mind, which upwards on a pinion
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Borne, swift as sunrise, far illumines space,
And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!
5
‘My brethren, we are free! The fruits are glowing
Beneath the stars, and the night winds are flowing
O’er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dreaming—
2245
Never again may blood of bird or beast
Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,
To the pure skies in accusation steaming;
Avenging poisons shall have ceased
To feed disease and fear and madness,
2250
The dwellers of the earth and air
Shall throng around our steps in gladness
Seeking their food or refuge there.
Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull,
To make this Earth, our home, more beautiful,
2255
And Science, and her sister Poesy,
Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!
6
‘Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations!
Bear witness Night, and ye mute Constellations
Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars!
Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no more!
Victory! Victory! Earth’s remotest shore,
Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,
The green lands cradled in the roar
Of western waves, and wildernesses
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Peopled and vast, which skirt the oceans
Where morning dyes her golden tresses,
Shall soon partake our high emotions:
Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear
The Fiend-God, when our charmed name he hear,
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Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes,
While Truth with Joy enthroned o’er his lost empire reigns!’
LII
Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwining
Their dim woof, floated o’er the infinite throng;
She, like a spirit through the darkness shining,
2275
In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong,
As if to lingering winds they did belong,
Poured forth her inmost soul: a passionate speech
With wild and thrilling pauses woven among,
Which whoso heard, was mute, for it could teach
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To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach.
LIII
Her voice was as a mountain-stream which sweeps
The withered leaves of Autumn to the lake,
And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps
In the shadow of the shores; as dead leaves wake
2285
Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make
Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue,
The multitude so moveless did partake
Such living change, and kindling murmurs flew
As o’er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew.
LIV
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Over the plain the throngs were scattered then
In groups around the fires, which from the sea
Even to the gorge of the first mountain-glen
Blazed wide and far: the banquet of the free
Was spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree,
2295
Beneath whose spires, which swayed in the red flame,
Reclining, as they ate, of Liberty,
And Hope, and Justice, and Laone’s name,
Earth’s children did a woof of happy converse frame.
LV
Their feast was such as Earth, the general mother,
2300
Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles
In the embrace of Autumn;—to each other
As when some parent fondly reconciles
Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles
With her own sustenance; they relenting weep:
2305
Such was this Festival, which from their isles
And continents, and winds, and oceans deep,
All shapes might throng to share, that fly, or walk, or creep,—
LVI
Might share in peace and innocence, for gore
Or poison none this festal did pollute,
2310
But piled on high, an overflowing store
Of pomegranates, and citrons, fairest fruit,
Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a root
Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet
Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute
2315
Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set
In basket
LVII
Laone had descended from the shrine,
And every deepest look and holiest mind
Fed on her form, though now those tones divine
2320
Were silent as she passed: she did unwind
Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kind
She mixed; some impulse made my heart refrain
From seeking her that night, so I reclined
Amidst a group, where on the utmost plain
2325
A festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main.
LVIII
And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk,
And wit, and harmony of choral strains,
While far Orion o’er the waves did walk
That flow among the isles, held us in chains
2330
Of sweet captivity, which none disdains
Who feels: but when his zone grew dim in mist
Which clothes the Ocean’s bosom, o’er the plains
The multitudes went homeward, to their rest,
Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.
CANTO VI
I
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BESIDE the dimness of the glimmering sea,
Weaving swift language from impassioned themes,
With that dear friend I lingered, who to me
So late had been restored, beneath the gleams
Of the silver stars; and ever in soft dreams
2340
Of future love and peace sweet converse lapped
Our willing fancies, till the pallid beams
Of the last watchfire fell, and darkness wrapped
The waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapped;
II
And till we came even to the City’s wall
And the great gate; then, none knew whence or why,
Disquiet on the multitudes did fall: