#title Epigrams
#author Percy Bysshe Shelley
#SORTtopics poetry
#date 1839
#source https://www.infoplease.com/primary-sources/poetry/percy-bysshe-shelley/complete-poetical-works-percy-bysshe-shelley-387
#lang en
#pubdate 2020-03-14T23:59:43



*** To Stella

Thou wert the morning star among the living,
<br>
Ere thy fair light had fled;—
<br>
Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving
<br>
New splendour to the dead.

*** Kissing Helena

Kissing Helena, together
<br>
With my kiss, my soul beside it
<br>
Came to my lips, and there I kept it,—
<br>
For the poor thing had wandered thither,
<br>
To follow where the kiss should guide it,
<br>
Oh, cruel I, to intercept it!

*** Spirit of Plato

Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb?
<br>
To what sublime and star-ypaven home
<br>
Floatest thou?—
<br>
I am the image of swift Plato's spirit,
<br>
Ascending heaven; Athens doth inherit
<br>
His corpse below.


*** Circumstance

A man who was about to hang himself,
<br>
Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;
<br>
The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf,
<br>
The halter found; and used it. So is Hope
<br>
Changed for Despair—one laid upon the shelf,
<br>
We take the other. Under Heaven's high cope
<br>
Fortune is God—all you endure and do
<br>
Depends on circumstance as much as you.