The False Laurel And The True
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 | A scan-backed, verifiable version of this work can be edited at Index:The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems.djvu. If you would like to help, please see Help:Match and split and Help:Proofread. |
FRAGMENT: THE FALSE LAUREL AND THE TRUE
‘What art thou, Presumptuous, who profanest
The wreath to mighty poets only due,
Even whilst like a forgotten moon thou wanest?
Touch not those leaves which for the eternal few
Who wander o’er the Paradise of fame,
In sacred dedication ever grew:
One of the crowd thou art without a name.’
’Ah, friend, 'tis the false laurel that I wear;
Bright though it seem, it is not the same
As that which bound Milton’s immortal hair;
Its dew is poison; and the hopes that quicken
Under its chilling shade, though seeming fair,
Are flowers which die almost before they sicken.’
The wreath to mighty poets only due,
Even whilst like a forgotten moon thou wanest?
Touch not those leaves which for the eternal few
Who wander o’er the Paradise of fame,
In sacred dedication ever grew:
One of the crowd thou art without a name.’
’Ah, friend, 'tis the false laurel that I wear;
Bright though it seem, it is not the same
As that which bound Milton’s immortal hair;
Its dew is poison; and the hopes that quicken
Under its chilling shade, though seeming fair,
Are flowers which die almost before they sicken.’
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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