_30
Flash on his sight the spectres of the past,
Until his mind's eye paint thereon--
Let scorn like .
Flash on his sight the spectres of the past,
Until his mind's eye paint thereon--
Let scorn like .
Shelley
.
.
Then send the priests to every hearth and home
To preach the burning wrath which is to come,
In words like flakes of sulphur, such as thaw _15
The frozen tears. . .
If Satire's scourge could wake the slumbering hounds
Of Conscience, or erase the deeper wounds,
The leprous scars of callous Infamy;
If it could make the present not to be, _20
Or charm the dark past never to have been,
Or turn regret to hope; who that has seen
What Southey is and was, would not exclaim,
'Lash on! ' . . . be the keen verse dipped in flame;
Follow his flight with winged words, and urge _25
The strokes of the inexorable scourge
Until the heart be naked, till his soul
See the contagion's spots . . . foul;
And from the mirror of Truth's sunlike shield,
From which his Parthian arrow. . .
_30
Flash on his sight the spectres of the past,
Until his mind's eye paint thereon--
Let scorn like . . . yawn below,
And rain on him like flakes of fiery snow.
This cannot be, it ought not, evil still-- _35
Suffering makes suffering, ill must follow ill.
Rough words beget sad thoughts, . . . and, beside,
Men take a sullen and a stupid pride
In being all they hate in others' shame,
By a perverse antipathy of fame. _40
'Tis not worth while to prove, as I could, how
From the sweet fountains of our Nature flow
These bitter waters; I will only say,
If any friend would take Southey some day,
And tell him, in a country walk alone, _45
Softening harsh words with friendship's gentle tone,
How incorrect his public conduct is,
And what men think of it, 'twere not amiss.
Far better than to make innocent ink--
***
GOOD-NIGHT.
[Published by Leigh Hunt over the signature Sigma, "The Literary
Pocket-Book", 1822. It is included in the Harvard manuscript book, and
there is a transcript by Shelley in a copy of "The Literary
Pocket-Book", 1819, presented by him to Miss Sophia Stacey, December
29, 1820. (See "Love's Philosophy" and "Time Long Past". ) Our text is
that of the editio princeps, 1822, with which the Harvard manuscript
and "Posthumous Poems", 1824, agree. The variants of the Stacey
manuscript, 1820, are given in the footnotes.
Then send the priests to every hearth and home
To preach the burning wrath which is to come,
In words like flakes of sulphur, such as thaw _15
The frozen tears. . .
If Satire's scourge could wake the slumbering hounds
Of Conscience, or erase the deeper wounds,
The leprous scars of callous Infamy;
If it could make the present not to be, _20
Or charm the dark past never to have been,
Or turn regret to hope; who that has seen
What Southey is and was, would not exclaim,
'Lash on! ' . . . be the keen verse dipped in flame;
Follow his flight with winged words, and urge _25
The strokes of the inexorable scourge
Until the heart be naked, till his soul
See the contagion's spots . . . foul;
And from the mirror of Truth's sunlike shield,
From which his Parthian arrow. . .
_30
Flash on his sight the spectres of the past,
Until his mind's eye paint thereon--
Let scorn like . . . yawn below,
And rain on him like flakes of fiery snow.
This cannot be, it ought not, evil still-- _35
Suffering makes suffering, ill must follow ill.
Rough words beget sad thoughts, . . . and, beside,
Men take a sullen and a stupid pride
In being all they hate in others' shame,
By a perverse antipathy of fame. _40
'Tis not worth while to prove, as I could, how
From the sweet fountains of our Nature flow
These bitter waters; I will only say,
If any friend would take Southey some day,
And tell him, in a country walk alone, _45
Softening harsh words with friendship's gentle tone,
How incorrect his public conduct is,
And what men think of it, 'twere not amiss.
Far better than to make innocent ink--
***
GOOD-NIGHT.
[Published by Leigh Hunt over the signature Sigma, "The Literary
Pocket-Book", 1822. It is included in the Harvard manuscript book, and
there is a transcript by Shelley in a copy of "The Literary
Pocket-Book", 1819, presented by him to Miss Sophia Stacey, December
29, 1820. (See "Love's Philosophy" and "Time Long Past". ) Our text is
that of the editio princeps, 1822, with which the Harvard manuscript
and "Posthumous Poems", 1824, agree. The variants of the Stacey
manuscript, 1820, are given in the footnotes.
