MUTABILITY

by

Percy Bysshe Shelley

I

The flower that smiles to-day

To-morrow dies;

All that we wish to stay

Tempts and then flies.

What is this world’s delight?

Lightning that mocks the night,

Brief even as bright.

II

Virtue, how frail it is!

Friendship how rare!

Love, how it sells poor bliss

For proud despair!

But we, though soon they fall,

Survive their joy, and all

Which ours we call.

III

Whilst skies are blue and bright,

Whilst flowers are gay,

Whilst eyes that change ere night

Make glad the day;

Whilst yet the calm hours creep,

Dream thou–and from thy sleep

Then wake to weep.

1821 (1824)

Step one: post a poem from a Romantic Poet who has been dead for almost 200 years.Step two: post another poem from that same Poet.Life May Change, But It May Fly NotbyPercy Bysshe ShelleyLife may change, but it may fly not;Hope may vanish, but can die not;Truth be veiled, but still it burneth;Love repulsed,–but it returneth!Yet were life a charnel whereHope lay coffined with Despair;Yet were truth a sacred lie,Love were lust—If LibertyLent not life its soul of light,Hope its iris of delight,Truth its prophet’s robe to wear,Love its power to give and bear.In a way, I think this poem works as a very good bookend to the one posted before. Interestingly it was written the same year as the previous one I put up. As I said about the first, I thought there was more to it than just an overwhelming sense of depression; that there existed something a bit complex underneath it all. And here we see a generally optimistic piece about the everlasting quality of hope. But the last stanza seems to linger a bit on that same drepressive sentiment in the other poem.