AT SHELLEY’S GRAVE
WRITTEN IN THE PROTESTANT CEMETERY,
ROME, APRIL 11, 1872
TREAD softly! Here the heart of Shelley lies:
His grave a garden ’neath the cypress wood,
Stirred with the tongues his spirit understood,
And spake in deathless song that vivifies
Men’s souls made heavy with the sad world’s cries,
Still where the darkness hides the dragon brood