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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students

To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

Percy Bysshe Shelley·1792–1822
Lines:36Movement:Romanticism
Mine eyes were dim with tears unshed;Yes, I was firm--thus wert not thou;--My baffled looks did fear yet dreadTo meet thy looks--I could not knowHow anxiously they sought to shineWith soothing pity upon mine. To sit and curb the soul's mute rageWhich preys upon itself alone;To curse the life which is the cageOf fettered grief that dares not groan,Hiding from many a careless eyeThe scorned load of agony. Whilst thou alone, then not regarded,The ... thou alone should be,To spend years thus, and be rewarded,As thou, sweet love, requited meWhen none were near--Oh! I did wakeFrom torture for that moment's sake. Upon my heart thy accents sweetOf peace and pity fell like dewOn flowers half dead;--thy lips did meetMine tremblingly; thy dark eyes threwTheir soft persuasion on my brain,Charming away its dream of pain. We are not happy, sweet! our stateIs strange and full of doubt and fear;More need of words that ills abate;--Reserve or censure come not nearOur sacred friendship, lest there beNo solace left for thee and me. Gentle and good and mild thou art,Nor can I live if thou appearAught but thyself, or turn thine heartAway from me, or stoop to wearThe mask of scorn, although it beTo hide the love thou feel'st for me.