Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON AN ICICLE THAT CLUNG TO THE GRASS OF A GRAVE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY



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ON AN ICICLE THAT CLUNG TO THE GRASS OF A GRAVE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh! Take the pure gem to where southerly breezes
Last Line: To shed on the grave of a heart so sincere.


I

OH! take the pure gem to where southerly breezes
Waft repose to some bosom as faithful as fair,
In which the warm current of love never freezes,
As it rises unmingled with selfishness there,
Which, untainted with pride, unpolluted by care,
Might dissolve the dim ice-drop, might bid it arise,
Too pure for these regions, to gleam in the skies.

II

Or where the stern warrior, his country defending,
Dares fearless the dark-rolling battle to pour,
Or o'er the fell corpse of a dread tyrant bending,
Where patriotism red with his guiltreeking gore
Plants liberty's flag on the slave-peopled shore,
With victory's cry, with the shout of the free,
Let it fly, taintless spirit, to mingle with thee.

III

For I found the pure gem, when the day-beam returning
Ineffectual gleams on the snow-covered plain,
When to others the wished-for arrival of morning
Brings relief to long visions of soulracking pain;
But regret is an insult -- to grieve is in vain:
And why should we grieve that a spirit so fair
Seeks Heaven to mix with its own kindred there?

IV

But still 't was some spirit of kindness descending
To share in the load of mortality's woe,
Who over thy lowly-built sepulchre bending
Bade sympathy's tenderest tear-drop to flow.
Not for thee soft compassion celestials did know,
But if angels can weep, sure man may repine,
May weep in mute grief o'er thy low-laid shrine.

V

And did I then say, for the altar of glory,
That the earliest, the loveliest of flowers I'd entwine,
Though with millions of blood-reeking victims 't was gory,
Though the tears of the widow polluted its shrine,
Though around it the orphans, the fatherless pine?
O Fame, all thy glories I'd yield for a tear
To shed on the grave of a heart so sincere.





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