PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

606 The Invitation

BEST and brightest, come away ! Fairer far than this fair Day, Which, like thee to those in sorrow, Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow To the rough Year just awake In its cradle on the brake. The brightest hour of unborn Spring, Through the winter wandering, Found, it seems, the halcyon Morn To hoar February born. Bending from heaven, in azure mirth, It kiss'd the forehead of the Earth ; And smiled upon the silent sea ; And bade the frozen streams be free ; And waked to music all their fountains ; And breathed upon the frozen mountains ; And like a prophetess of May Strew'd flowers upon the barren way, Making the wintry world appear Like one on whom thou smilest, dear.

Away, away, from men and towns,

To the wild wood and the downs

To the silent wilderness

Where the soul need not repress

Its music lest it should not find

An echo in another's mind,

While the touch of Nature's art

Harmonizes heart to heart.

I leave this notice on my door

For each accustomed visitor:

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