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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students

Invocation to Misery

Percy Bysshe Shelley·1792–1822
Lines:65Movement:Romanticism
Come, be happy!--sit near me,Shadow-vested Misery:Coy, unwilling, silent bride,Mourning in thy robe of pride,Desolation--deified! Come, be happy!--sit near me:Sad as I may seem to thee,I am happier far than thou,Lady, whose imperial browIs endiademed with woe. Misery! we have known each other,Like a sister and a brotherLiving in the same lone home,Many years--we must live someHours or ages yet to come. 'Tis an evil lot, and yetLet us make the best of it;If love can live when pleasure dies,We two will love, till in our eyesThis heart's Hell seem Paradise. Come, be happy!--lie thee downOn the fresh grass newly mown,Where the Grasshopper doth singMerrily--one joyous thingIn a world of sorrowing! There our tent shall be the willow,And mine arm shall be thy pillow;Sounds and odours, sorrowfulBecause they once were sweet, shall lullUs to slumber, deep and dull. Ha! thy frozen pulses flutterWith a love thou darest not utter.Thou art murmuring--thou art weeping--Is thine icy bosom leapingWhile my burning heart lies sleeping? Kiss me;--oh! thy lips are cold:Round my neck thine arms enfold--They are soft, but chill and dead;And thy tears upon my headBurn like points of frozen lead. Hasten to the bridal bed--Underneath the grave 'tis spread:In darkness may our love be hid,Oblivion be our coverlid--We may rest, and none forbid. Clasp me till our hearts be grownLike two shadows into one;Till this dreadful transport mayLike a vapour fade away,In the sleep that lasts alway. We may dream, in that long sleep,That we are not those who weep;E'en as Pleasure dreams of thee,Life-deserting Misery,Thou mayst dream of her with me. Let us laugh, and make our mirth,At the shadows of the earth,As dogs bay the moonlight clouds,Which, like spectres wrapped in shrouds,Pass o'er night in multitudes. All the wide world, beside us,Show like multitudinousPuppets passing from a scene;What but mockery can they mean,Where I am--where thou hast been?