SHELLEY
by: Henry van Dyke (1852-1933)
- NIGHT-ERRANT of the Never-ending
Quest,
- And Minstrel of the Unfulfilled Desire;
- For ever tuning thy frail earthly lyre
- To some unearthly music, and possessed
- With painful passionate longing to invest
- The golden dream of Love's immortal fire
- In mortal robes of beautiful attire,
- And fold perfection to thy throbbing breast!
-
- What wonder, Shelley, if the restless wave
- Should claim thee and the leaping flame consume
- Thy drifted form on Viareggio's beach?
- Fate to thy body gave a fitting grave,
- And bade thy soul ride on with fiery plume,
- Thy wild song ring in ocean's yearning speech!
"Shelley" is reprinted
from The White Bees and Other Poems. Henry van Dyke. New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. |
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POEMS BY HENRY VAN DYKE |
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