Love

Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour

by Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792–1822

From Complete Poetical Works, Oxford ed. Hutchinson (1914)

Love

Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour,
Soft Zephyrs breathe gently around,
The anemone’s night-boding flower,
Has sunk its pale head on the ground.

’Tis thus the world’s keenness hath torn,
Some mild heart that expands to its blast,
’Tis thus that the wretched forlorn,
Sinks poor and neglected at last.—

The world with its keenness and woe,
Has no charms or attraction for me,
Its unkindness with grief has laid low,
The heart which is faithful to thee.
The high trees that wave past the moon,
As I walk in their umbrage with you,
All declare I must part with you soon,
All bid you a tender adieu!—

Then [Harriet]! dearest farewell,
You and I love, may ne’er meet again;
These woods and these meadows can tell
How soft and how sweet was the strain.—

✦ ✦ ✦

Published 1810 in Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire.

MLA

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shelley/254/.

Chicago

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shelley/254/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Percy Bysshe Shelley