VII. The Heavens had wept upon it, but the Earth Had crushed it on her unmaternal breast. VIII. I bore it to my chamber, and I planted cold, Upon its leaves and flowers; the star which panted In evening for the Day, whose car has rolled Over the horizon's wave, with looks of light Smiled on it from the threshold of the night. IX. The mitigated influences of air And light revived the plant, and from it grew Strong leaves and tendrils, and its flowers fair, Full as a cup with the vine's burning dew, O'erflowed with golden colours; an atmosphere Of vital warmth enfolded it anew, And every impulse sent to every part The unbeheld pulsations of its heart. X. Well might the plant grow beautiful and strong, Even if the air and sun had smiled not on it; For one wept o'er it all the winter long Tears pure as Heaven's rain, which fell upon it Hour after hour; for sounds of softest song Mixed with the stringèd melodies that won it To leave the gentle lips on which it slept, Had loosed the heart of him who sat and wept: XI. Had loosed his heart, and shook the leaves and flowers On which he wept, the while the savage storm Waked by the darkest of December's hours Was raving round the chamber hushed and warm; The birds were shivering in their leafless bowers, The fish were frozen in the pools, the form Of every summer plant was dead... Whilst this. THE MAGNETIC LADY TO HER PATIENT.1 I. "SLEEP, sleep on! forget thy pain; My pity on thy heart, poor friend; The powers of life, and like a sign, II. "Sleep, sleep on! I love thee not; Who made and makes my lot As full of flowers as thine of weeds, 1 According to Medwin, he was the first to mesmerize Shelley as a measure of relief for some of the poet's ailments, and Jane Williams did the same later.-ED. Might have been lost like thee, 66 For thine. III. Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber of Forget thy life and love; Forget that thou must wake for ever; Forget the world's dull scorn; Forget lost health, and the divine Feelings which died in youth's brief morn; And forget me, for I can never Be thine. IV. "Like a cloud big with a May shower, "The spell is done. How feel you now?" You good when suffering and awake? “What would cure, that would kill me, Jane : And as I must on earth abide Awhile, yet tempt me not to break LINES. I. WHEN the lamp is shattered II. As music and splendour Like the wind through a ruined cell, III. When hearts have once mingled The frailty of all things here, Why choose you the frailest For your cradle, your home and your bier? IV. Its passions will rock thee As the storms rock the ravens on high: Bright reason will mock thee, TO JANE-THE INVITATION. BEST and brightest, come away! The brightest hour of unborn Spring, Bending from Heaven, in azure mirth, Away, away, from men and towns, 10 20 |