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Lyric Poem · Nature

To Mary

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1O Mary dear, that you were here

2With your brown eyes bright and clear.

3And your sweet voice, like a bird

4Singing love to its lone mate

5In the ivy bower disconsolate;

6Voice the sweetest ever heard!

7And your brow more...

8Than the ... sky

9Of this azure Italy.

10Mary dear, come to me soon,

11I am not well whilst thou art far;

12As sunset to the sphered moon,

13As twilight to the western star,

14Thou, beloved, art to me.

15O Mary dear, that you were here;

16The Castle echo whispers 'Here!'

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

Quick facts

Poem
To Mary
Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Love

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
16 lines · 2 stanzas of 2–14 lines
Refrains
O Mary dear, that you were hereO Mary dear, that you were here;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.

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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
PoetryDBTo Mary 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 10f63d3cc6dd82c0
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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