Some thoughts from Shelley

EXCERPT FROM:

Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

3

Alas! I have nor hope nor health,

Nor peace within nor calm around,

Nor that content surpassing wealth

The sage in meditation found,

And walked with inward glory crowned -

Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure

Others I see whom these surround -

Smiling they live, and call life pleasure; -

To me that cup has been dealt in another measure.

4
Some might lament that I were cold,

As I, when this sweet day is done,

Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,

Insults with this untimely moan;

They might lament -for I am one

Whom men love not, -and yet regret,

Unlike this day which, when the sun

Shall on its stainless glory set,

Will linger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet.

5
Yet now despair itself is mild,

Even as the winds and waters are;

I could lie down like a tired child,

And weep away the life of care

Which I have borne and yet must bear,

Till death like sleep might steal on me,

And I might feel in the warm air

My cheek grow cold, and hear the sea

Breathe o'er my dying brain its last monotony.