AN ALLEGORY.
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.]
1.
A portal as of shadowy adamant
Stands yawning on the highway of the life
Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt;
Around it rages an unceasing strife
Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt _5
The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high
Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky.
2.
And many pass it by with careless tread,
Not knowing that a shadowy …
Tracks every traveller even to where the dead _10
Wait peacefully for their companion new;
But others, by more curious humour led,
Pause to examine;—these are very few,
And they learn little there, except to know
That shadows follow them where'er they go. _15
NOTE: _8 pass Rossetti; passed editions 1824, 1839.
***
THE WORLD'S WANDERERS.
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.]
1.
Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light
Speed thee in thy fiery flight,
In what cavern of the night
Will thy pinions close now?
2.
Tell me, Moon, thou pale and gray _5
Pilgrim of Heaven's homeless way,
In what depth of night or day
Seekest thou repose now?