Fragment: 'When a Lover Clasps His Fairest'

When a lover clasps his fairest,
Then be our dread sport the rarest.
Their caresses were like the chaff
In the tempest, and be our laugh
His despair--her epitaph!
When a mother clasps her child,
Watch till dusty Death has piled
His cold ashes on the clay;
She has loved it many a day--
She remains,--it fades away.

About Percy Bysshe Shelley

Major English Romantic poet regarded as one of the finest lyric poets in the English language.

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