It was a winter such as when birds die In the deep forests; and the fishes lie Stiffened in the translucent ice, which makes Even the mud and slime of the warm lakes A wrinkled clod as hard as brick; and when, _15 Among their children, comfortable men Gather about great fires, and yet feel cold: Alas, then, for the homeless beggar old! NOTE: _11 birds die 1839; birds do die 1829. *** THE TOWER OF FAMINE. [Published by Mrs. Shelley in "The Keepsake", 1829. Mr. C.W. Frederickson of Brooklyn possesses a transcript in Mrs. Shelley's handwriting.] Amid the desolation of a city, Which was the cradle, and is now the grave Of an extinguished people,--so that Pity Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of Oblivion's wave, There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built _5 Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave For bread, and gold, and blood: Pain, linked to Guilt, Agitates the light flame of their hours, Until its vital oil is spent or spilt. There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers _10 And sacred domes; each marble-ribbed roof, The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers Of solitary wealth,--the tempest-proof Pavilions of the dark Italian air,-- Are by its presence dimmed--they stand aloof, _15 And are withdrawn--so that the world is bare; As if a spectre wrapped in shapeless terror Amid a company of ladies fair Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue, _20 The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error, Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew. NOTE: _7 For]With 1829. *** AN ALLEGORY. [Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.] 1. A portal as of shadowy adamant Stands yawning on the highway of the life Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt; Around it rages an unceasing strife Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt _5 The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky. 2. And many pass it by with careless tread, Not knowing that a shadowy ... Tracks every traveller even to where the dead _10 Wait peacefully for their companion new; But others, by more curious humour led, Pause to examine;--these are very few, And they learn little there, except to know That shadows follow them where'er they go. _15 NOTE: _8 pass Rossetti; passed editions 1824, 1839. *** THE WORLD'S WANDERERS. [Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.] 1. Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light Speed thee in thy fiery flight, In what cavern of the night Will thy pinions close now? 2. Tell me, Moon, thou pale and gray _5 Pilgrim of Heaven's homeless way, In what depth of night or day Seekest thou repose now?