Robert Bridges, ed. (1844–1930). The Spirit of Man: An Anthology. 1916. | | | | From end of Prometheus |
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | | SPEAK! 1 thy strong words may never pass away … | |
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| Love, from its awful throne of patient power | |
| In the wise heart, from the last giddy hour | |
| Of dread endurance, from the slippery, steep, | |
| And narrow verge of crag-like agony, springs | 5 |
| And folds over the world its healing wings. | |
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| Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom, and Endurance, | |
| These are the seals of that most firm assurance | |
| Which bars the pit over Destruction’s strength; | |
| And if, with infirm hand, Eternity, | 10 |
| Mother of many acts and hours, should free | |
| The serpent that would clasp her with his length; | |
| These are the spells by which to reassume | |
| An empire o’er the disentangled doom. | |
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| To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite; | 15 |
| To forgive wrongs darker than death or night; | |
| To defy Power, which seems omnipotent; | |
| To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates | |
| From its own wreck the thing it contemplates; | |
| Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent; | 20 |
| This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be | |
| Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free; | |
| This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory. | |
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