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Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

To Mary Who Died in This Opinion

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow

Struggling in thine haggard eye:

Firmness dare to borrow

From the wreck of destiny;

For the ray morn's bloom revealing

Can never boast so bright an hue

As that which mocks concealing,

And sheds its loveliest light on you.

Yet is the tie departed

Which bound thy lovely soul to bliss?

Has it left thee broken-hearted

In a world so cold as this?

Yet, though, fainting fair one,

Sorrow's self thy cup has given,

Dream thou'lt meet thy dear one,

Never more to part, in Heaven.

Existence would I barter

For a dream so dear as thine,

And smile to die a martyr

On affection's bloodless shrine.

Nor would I change for pleasure

That withered hand and ashy cheek,

If my heart enshrined a treasure

Such as forces thine to break.

This poem is in the public domain.

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