| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. To Wordsworth | | By Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | | POET of Nature! thou hast wept to know | |
| That things depart which never may return! | |
| Childhood and youth, friendship and love’s first glow, | |
| Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn. | |
| These common woes I feel. One loss is mine | 5 |
| Which thou too feel’st; yet I alone deplore. | |
| Thou wert as a lone star, whose light did shine | |
| On some frail bark in winter’s midnight roar: | |
| Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood | |
| Above the blind and battling multitude. | 10 |
| In honored poverty thy voice did weave | |
| Songs consecrate to truth and liberty:— | |
| Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve, | |
| Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to be. | | | | |
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