Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DROWNED LOVER, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY


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THE DROWNED LOVER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah! Faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary
Last Line: In eternity's bowers, a seat for thee there.
Subject(s): Drowning


I

AH! faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary,
Yet far must the desolate wanderer roam;
Though the tempest is stern, and the mountain is dreary,
She must quit at deep midnight her pitiless home.
I see her swift foot dash the dew from the whortle,
As she rapidly hastes to the green grove of myrtle;
And I hear, as she wraps round her figure the kirtle,
'Stay thy boat on the lake, -- dearest Henry, I come.'

II

High swelled in her bosom the throb of affection,
As lightly her form bounded over the lea,
And arose in her mind every dear recollection;
'I come, dearest Henry, and wait but for thee.'
How sad, when dear hope every sorrow is soothing,
When sympathy's swell the soft bosom is moving,
And the mind the mild joys of affection is proving,
Is the stern voice of fate that bids happiness flee!

III

Oh! dark lowered the clouds on that horrible eve,
And the moon dimly gleamed through the tempested air;
Oh! how could fond visions such softness deceive?
Oh! how could false hope rend a bosom so fair?
Thy love's pallid corse the wild surges are laving,
O'er his form the fierce swell of the tempest is raving;
But fear not, parting spirit; thy goodness is saving,
In eternity's bowers, a seat for thee there.





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