Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)Extracts from Prometheus Unbound: Voice in the air, singing
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With their love the breath between them;
And thy smiles, before they dwindle,
Make the cold air fire,—then screen them
In those looks where whoso gazes
Faints, entangled in their mazes.
Through the vest which seems to hide them,
As the radiant lines of morning
Through the clouds, ere they divide them;
And this atmosphere divinest
Shrouds thee wheresoe’er thou shinest.
(But thy voice sounds low and tender,
Like the fairest), for it folds thee
From the sight—that liquid splendour;
And all feel, yet see thee never,
As I feel now, lost for ever!
Its dim shapes are clad with brightness,
And the souls of whom thou lovest
Walk upon the winds with lightness,
Till they fail, as I am failing,
Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing!