Lyric Poem · Love

The Indian Serenade

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1I arise from dreams of thee

2In the first sweet sleep of night,

3When the winds are breathing low,

4And the stars are shining bright:

5I arise from dreams of thee,

6And a spirit in my feet

7Hath led me — who knows how?

8To thy chamber window, Sweet!

9The wandering airs they faint

10On the dark, the silent stream —

11The Champak odours fail

12Like sweet thoughts in a dream;

13The nightingale's complaint,

14It dies upon her heart; —

15As I must on thine,

16Oh, beloved as thou art!

17Oh lift me from the grass!

18I die! I faint! I fail!

19Let thy love in kisses rain

20On my lips and eyelids pale.

21My cheek is cold and white, alas!

22My heart beats loud and fast; —

23Oh! press it to thine own again,

24Where it will break at last.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“The Indian Serenade” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/the-indian-serenade

Quick facts

Poem: The Indian Serenade
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Nature, Dreams & Sleep

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
End rhyme: ABCBADED in every stanza.
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Refrains: “I arise from dreams of thee”“I arise from dreams of thee,”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

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: PoetryDBThe Indian Serenade 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 94c8f87adbb53566…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Love Nature Dreams & Sleep

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More love poems →