Lyric Poem · Nature

To the Moonbeam

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1Moonbeam, leave the shadowy vale,

2To bathe this burning brow.

3Moonbeam, why art thou so pale,

4As thou walkest o'er the dewy dale,

5Where humble wild-flowers grow?

6Is it to mimic me?

7But that can never be;

8For thine orb is bright,

9And the clouds are light,

10That at intervals shadow the star-studded night.

11Now all is deathy still on earth;

12Nature's tired frame reposes;

13And, ere the golden morning's birth

14Its radiant hues discloses,

15Flies forth its balmy breath.

16But mine is the midnight of Death,

17And Nature's morn

18To my bosom forlorn

19Brings but a gloomier night, implants a deadlier thorn.

20Wretch! Suppress the glare of madness

21Struggling in thine haggard eye,

22For the keenest throb of sadness,

23Pale Despair's most sickening sigh,

24Is but to mimic me;

25And this must ever be,

26When the twilight of care,

27And the night of despair,

28Seem in my breast but joys to the pangs that rankle there.

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“To the Moonbeam” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/to-the-moonbeam

Quick facts

Poem: To the Moonbeam
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 28 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Death & Loss, Sad

Craft notes

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Shape: 28 lines · 3 stanzas of 9–10 lines

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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBTo the Moonbeam 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 37fa5dd9f4051b21…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Death & Loss Sad

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