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Sweeps in his dream-drawn chariot, far and fast,
More fleet than storms–the wide world shrinks below,
When winter and despondency are past. 260

FRAGMENT 5

 

 'Twas at this season that Prince Athanase
 

 Passed the white Alps--those eagle-baffling mountains
 

 Slept in their shrouds of snow;--beside the ways
 

The waterfalls were voiceless–for their fountains
Were changed to mines of sunless crystal now, 265
Or by the curdling winds–like brazen wings

Which clanged along the mountain’s marble brow–
Warped into adamantine fretwork, hung
And filled with frozen light the chasms below.

Vexed by the blast, the great pines groaned and swung 270
Under their load of [snow]–
…
…
Such as the eagle sees, when he dives down
From the gray deserts of wide air, [beheld] 275
[Prince] Athanase; and o’er his mien (?) was thrown

The shadow of that scene, field after field,
Purple and dim and wide…

FRAGMENT 6

 

 Thou art the wine whose drunkenness is all
 

 We can desire, O Love! and happy souls,         280
 

 Ere from thy vine the leaves of autumn fall,
 

Catch thee, and feed from their o’erflowing bowls
Thousands who thirst for thine ambrosial dew;–
Thou art the radiance which where ocean rolls

Investeth it; and when the heavens are blue 285
Thou fillest them; and when the earth is fair
The shadow of thy moving wings imbue

Its deserts and its mountains, till they wear
Beauty like some light robe;–thou ever soarest
Among the towers of men, and as soft air 290

In spring, which moves the unawakened forest,
Clothing with leaves its branches bare and bleak,
Thou floatest among men; and aye implorest

That which from thee they should implore:–the weak
Alone kneel to thee, offering up the hearts 295
The strong have broken–yet where shall any seek

A garment whom thou clothest not? the darts
Of the keen winter storm, barbed with frost,
Which, from the everlasting snow that parts

The Alps from Heaven, pierce some traveller lost 300
In the wide waved interminable snow
Ungarmented,…

ANOTHER FRAGMENT (A)

 

 Yes, often when the eyes are cold and dry,
 

 And the lips calm, the Spirit weeps within
 

 Tears bitterer than the blood of agony         305
 

Trembling in drops on the discoloured skin
Of those who love their kind and therefore perish
In ghastly torture–a sweet medicine

Of peace and sleep are tears, and quietly
Them soothe from whose uplifted eyes they fall 310
But…

ANOTHER FRAGMENT (B)

 

 Her hair was brown, her sphered eyes were brown,
 

 And in their dark and liquid moisture swam,
 

 Like the dim orb of the eclipsed moon;
 

Yet when the spirit flashed beneath, there came 315
The light from them, as when tears of delight
Double the western planet’s serene flame.

NOTES: 19 strange edition 1839; deep edition 1824. 74 feed an Bodleian manuscript; feed on editions 1824, 1839.

124 [1. The Author was pursuing a fuller development of the ideal character of Athanase, when it struck him that in an attempt at extreme refinement and analysis, his conceptions might be betrayed into the assuming a morbid character. The reader will judge whether he is a loser or gainer by this diffidence. [Shelley’s Note.] Footnote diffidence cj. Rossetti (1878); difference editions 1824, 1839.]

154 beneath editions 1824, 1839; between Bodleian manuscript.
165 One Bodleian manuscript edition 1839; An edition 1824.
167 Thus thro’ Bodleian manuscript (?) edition 1839; Thus had edition 1824.
173 talk they edition 1824, Bodleian manuscript; talk now edition 1839.
175 that edition 1839; the edition 1824.
182 So edition 1839; And edition 1824.
183 Or on Bodleian manuscript; Or by editions 1824, 1839.
199 eve Bodleian manuscript edition 1839; night edition 1824.
212 emotion, a swift editions 1824, 1839;
emotion with swift Bodleian manuscript.
250 under edition 1824, Bodleian manuscript; beneath edition 1839.
256 outstrips editions 1824, 1839; outrides Bodleian manuscript.
259 Exulting, while the wide Bodleian manuscript.
262 mountains editions 1824, 1839; crags Bodleian manuscript.
264 fountains editions 1824, 1839; springs Bodleian manuscript.
269 chasms Bodleian manuscript; chasm editions 1824, 1839.
283 thine Bodleian manuscript; thy editions 1824, 1839.
285 Investeth Bodleian manuscript; Investest editions 1824, 1839.
289 light Bodleian manuscript; bright editions 1824, 1839.