Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO SOPHIA, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY


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TO SOPHIA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou art fair, and few are fairer
Last Line: Is my heart when thine is near it.
Subject(s): Singing & Singers; Stacey, Sophia


I

THOU art fair, and few are fairer
Of the nymphs of earth or ocean;
They are robes that fit the wearer --
Those soft limbs of thine, whose motion
Ever falls and shifts and glances
As the life within them dances.

II

Thy deep eyes, a double Planet,
Gaze the wisest into madness
With soft clear fire; the winds that fan it
Are those thoughts of tender gladness
Which, like zephyrs on the billow,
Make thy gentle soul their pillow.

III

If, whatever face thou paintest
In those eyes, grows pale with pleasure,
If the fainting soul is faintest
When it hears thy harp's wild measure,
Wonder not that when thou speakest
Of the weak my heart is weakest.

IV

As dew beneath the wind of morning,
As the sea which whirlwinds waken,
As the birds at thunder's warning,
As aught mute yet deeply shaken,
As one who feels an unseen spirit, --
Is my heart when thine is near it.





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