506. Hymn to the Spirit of Nature

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822)

  LIFE of Life! Thy lips enkindle

  With their love the breath between them;

  And thy smiles before they dwindle

  Make the cold air fire; then screen them

  In those locks, where whoso gazes

  Faints, entangled in their mazes.

  Child of Light! Thy limbs are burning

  Through the veil which seems to hide them,

  As the radiant lines of morning

  Through thin clouds, ere they divide them;

  And this atmosphere divinest

  Shrouds thee whereso’er thou shinest.

  Fair are others: none beholds Thee;

  But thy voice sounds low and tender

  Like the fairest, for it folds thee

  From the sight, that liquid splendour;

  And all feel, yet see thee never,—

  As I feel now, lost for ever!

  Lamp of Earth! where’er thou movest

  Its dim shapes are clad with brightness,

  And the souls of whom thou lovest

  Walk upon the winds with lightness

  Till they fail, as I am failing,

  Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing!