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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students

An Exhortation

Percy Bysshe Shelley·1792–1822
Lines:27Movement:Romanticism
Chameleons feed on light and air:Poets' food is love and fame:If in this wide world of carePoets could but find the sameWith as little toil as they,Would they ever change their hueAs the light chameleons do,Suiting it to every rayTwenty times a day? Poets are on this cold earth,As chameleons might be,Hidden from their early birthin a cave beneath the sea;Where light is, chameleons change:Where love is not, poets do:Fame is love disguised: if fewFind either, never think it strangeThat poets range. Yet dare not stain with wealth or powerA poet's free and heavenly mind:If bright chameleons should devourAny food but beams and wind,They would grow as earthly soonAs their brother lizards are.Children of a sunnier star,Spirits from beyond the moon,Oh, refuse the boon!