INSCRIPTION.

INSCRIPTION.

Lithe ivy, let thy gliding foliage shadeThis urn, where Shelley’s sacred dust is laid,Whose fire was quenched beneath the angry sea,That laves the sunny shores of Italy!The Elements did moan around his bier.In him they lost their best interpreter—For his most subtile, sympathizing frameWas as a sweet melodious instrument,Through all whose pores and million channels wentThe Universe into his heart and brainIn musical influxes, that ebbed amainFrom out his lips, in verse of power to tameA tiger’s heart, or suage an angel’s pain.Through his well-jointed reeds the circling gyresOf planets poured in song their soft desires,And glad ovations, while their vernal dreamsThe leaves did whisper, and the clouds and streamsAnd winds their fluent exultations pour,With sky-pavilioned ocean’s organ-roar.

Lithe ivy, let thy gliding foliage shadeThis urn, where Shelley’s sacred dust is laid,Whose fire was quenched beneath the angry sea,That laves the sunny shores of Italy!The Elements did moan around his bier.In him they lost their best interpreter—For his most subtile, sympathizing frameWas as a sweet melodious instrument,Through all whose pores and million channels wentThe Universe into his heart and brainIn musical influxes, that ebbed amainFrom out his lips, in verse of power to tameA tiger’s heart, or suage an angel’s pain.Through his well-jointed reeds the circling gyresOf planets poured in song their soft desires,And glad ovations, while their vernal dreamsThe leaves did whisper, and the clouds and streamsAnd winds their fluent exultations pour,With sky-pavilioned ocean’s organ-roar.

Lithe ivy, let thy gliding foliage shadeThis urn, where Shelley’s sacred dust is laid,Whose fire was quenched beneath the angry sea,That laves the sunny shores of Italy!The Elements did moan around his bier.In him they lost their best interpreter—For his most subtile, sympathizing frameWas as a sweet melodious instrument,Through all whose pores and million channels wentThe Universe into his heart and brainIn musical influxes, that ebbed amainFrom out his lips, in verse of power to tameA tiger’s heart, or suage an angel’s pain.Through his well-jointed reeds the circling gyresOf planets poured in song their soft desires,And glad ovations, while their vernal dreamsThe leaves did whisper, and the clouds and streamsAnd winds their fluent exultations pour,With sky-pavilioned ocean’s organ-roar.

Lithe ivy, let thy gliding foliage shade

This urn, where Shelley’s sacred dust is laid,

Whose fire was quenched beneath the angry sea,

That laves the sunny shores of Italy!

The Elements did moan around his bier.

In him they lost their best interpreter—

For his most subtile, sympathizing frame

Was as a sweet melodious instrument,

Through all whose pores and million channels went

The Universe into his heart and brain

In musical influxes, that ebbed amain

From out his lips, in verse of power to tame

A tiger’s heart, or suage an angel’s pain.

Through his well-jointed reeds the circling gyres

Of planets poured in song their soft desires,

And glad ovations, while their vernal dreams

The leaves did whisper, and the clouds and streams

And winds their fluent exultations pour,

With sky-pavilioned ocean’s organ-roar.


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