[Published by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.]

The viewless and invisible Consequence
Watches thy goings-out, and comings-in,
And...hovers o’er thy guilty sleep,
Unveiling every new-born deed, and thoughts
More ghastly than those deeds—­ 5

***

FRAGMENT:  A SERPENT-FACE.

[Published by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.]

His face was like a snake’s—­wrinkled and loose
And withered—­

***

FRAGMENT:  DEATH IN LIFE.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.]

My head is heavy, my limbs are weary,
And it is not life that makes me move.

***

FRAGMENT:  ‘SUCH HOPE, AS IS THE SICK DESPAIR OF GOOD’.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.]

Such hope, as is the sick despair of good,
Such fear, as is the certainty of ill,
Such doubt, as is pale Expectation’s food
Turned while she tastes to poison, when the will
Is powerless, and the spirit... 5

***

FRAGMENT:  ‘ALAS!  THIS IS NOT WHAT I THOUGHT LIFE WAS’.

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Poetical Works”, 1839, 1st edition.  This fragment is joined by Forman with that immediately preceding.]

Alas! this is not what I thought life was. 
I knew that there were crimes and evil men,
Misery and hate; nor did I hope to pass
Untouched by suffering, through the rugged glen. 
In mine own heart I saw as in a glass 5
The hearts of others ...  And when
I went among my kind, with triple brass
Of calm endurance my weak breast I armed,
To bear scorn, fear, and hate, a woful mass!

***

FRAGMENT:  MILTON’S SPIRIT.

[Published by Rossetti, “Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1870.]

I dreamed that Milton’s spirit rose, and took
From life’s green tree his Uranian lute;
And from his touch sweet thunder flowed, and shook
All human things built in contempt of man,—­
And sanguine thrones and impious altars quaked, 5
Prisons and citadels...

NOTE: 
2 lute Uranian cj.  A.C.  Bradley.

***

FRAGMENT:  ‘UNRISEN SPLENDOUR OF THE BRIGHTEST SUN’.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.]

Unrisen splendour of the brightest sun,
To rise upon our darkness, if the star
Now beckoning thee out of thy misty throne
Could thaw the clouds which wage an obscure war
With thy young brightness! 5