DEDICATION.

THERE IS NO DANGER TO A MAN, THAT KNOWS

WHAT LIFE AND DEATH IS: THERE'S NOT ANY LAW

EXCEEDS HIS KNOWLEDGE; NEITHER IS IT LAWFUL THAT HE SHOULD STOOP TO ANY OTHER LAW.

CHAPMAN.

MARY

ΤΟ

1.

So now, my summer-task is ended, Mary,
And I return to thee, mine own heart's home;
As to his Queen some victor Knight of Faëry,
Earning bright spoils for her inchanted dome;
Nor thou disdain, that ere my fame become
A star among the stars of mortal night,
If it indeed may cleave its natal gloom,

Its doubtful promise thus I would unite

With thy belovèd name, thou Child of love and light.

2.

The toil which stole from thee so many an hour,

Is ended, and the fruit is at thy feet!

No longer where the woods to frame a bower
With interlaced branches mix and meet,

Or where with sound like many voices sweet,
Water-falls leap among wild islands green,
Which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat
Of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen:
But beside thee, where still my heart has ever been.

1 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. I leave the blanks as Shelley left them,

presuming we are meant to read
simply
"To Mary."