Lyric Poem · Nature

Remembrance

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Swifter far than summer's flight —

Swifter far than youth's delight —

Swifter far than happy night,

Art thou come and gone —

As the earth when leaves are dead,

As the night when sleep is sped,

As the heart when joy is fled,

I am left lone, alone.

The swallow summer comes again —

The owlet night resumes her reign —

But the wild-swan youth is fain

To fly with thee, false as thou. —

My heart each day desires the morrow;

Sleep itself is turned to sorrow;

Vainly would my winter borrow

Sunny leaves from any bough.

Lilies for a bridal bed —

Roses for a matron's head —

Violets for a maiden dead —

Pansies let MY flowers be:

On the living grave I bear

Scatter them without a tear —

Let no friend, however dear,

Waste one hope, one fear for me.

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“Remembrance” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/remembrance

Quick facts

Poem: Remembrance
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Death & Loss, Summer

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 24 lines · 3 octaves
Line length: Mostly 7-syllable lines.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBRemembrance by percy-bysshe-shelley, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 c345c20f9a3a09f5…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Death & Loss Summer

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