To Night

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 (Horsham) – 1822 (Lerici)



Swiftly walk o'er the western wave,
       Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
Which make thee terrible and dear--
       Swift be thy flight!

Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,
       Star-inwrought!
Blind with thine hair the eyes of day;
Kiss her until she be wearied out,
Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land,
Touching all with thine opiate wand--
       Come, long-sought!

When I arose and saw the dawn,
       I sighed for thee;
When light rode high, and the dew was gone,
And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,
And the weary day turned to his rest,
Lingering like an unloved guest,
       I sighed for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,
       Wouldst thou me?
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmured like a noontide bee,
Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me?--And I replied,
       No, not thee!

Death will come when thou art dead,
       Soon, too soon--
Sleep will come when thou art fled;
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night--
Swift be thine approaching flight,
       Come soon, soon!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
114

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababccb dbdxxxx eFefggF hfhfhhf ijijbbj
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,105
Words 198
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7, 7

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is regarded by critics as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. more…

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