{"id":4293,"date":"2020-01-11T10:03:05","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T10:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/?p=4293"},"modified":"2020-01-11T10:03:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T10:03:05","slug":"windy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/?p=4293","title":{"rendered":"Windy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still on the poetry tack, another which always comes to mind at the turn of the year, deservedly much loved, written by old “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. * \u00a0 Particularly apt given the overnight weather conditions.\u00a0 WordPress has removed some of the spacing,\u00a0 apologies. (*Kirsty removed some of the grammar, likewise. )<\/p>\n

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Ode to the West Wind<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\n
By Percy Bysshe Shelley<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
I<\/strong><\/div>\n
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,<\/div>\n
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead<\/div>\n
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,<\/div>\n
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,<\/div>\n
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,<\/div>\n
Each like a corpse within its grave, until<\/div>\n
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill<\/div>\n
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)<\/div>\n
With living hues and odours plain and hill:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;<\/div>\n
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
II<\/strong><\/div>\n
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky’s commotion,<\/div>\n
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,<\/div>\n
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread<\/div>\n
On the blue surface of thine a\u00ebry surge,<\/div>\n
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge<\/div>\n
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,<\/div>\n
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Of the dying year, to which this closing night<\/div>\n
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,<\/div>\n
Vaulted with all thy congregated might<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere<\/div>\n
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
III<\/strong><\/div>\n
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams<\/div>\n
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,<\/div>\n
Lull’d by the coil of his crystalline\u00a0streams,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,<\/div>\n
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers<\/div>\n
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers<\/div>\n
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou<\/div>\n
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below<\/div>\n
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear<\/div>\n
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,<\/div>\n
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
IV<\/strong><\/div>\n
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;<\/div>\n
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;<\/div>\n
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The impulse of thy strength, only less free<\/div>\n
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even<\/div>\n
I were as in my boyhood, and could be<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,<\/div>\n
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed<\/div>\n
Scarce seem’d a vision; I would ne’er have striven<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.<\/div>\n
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!<\/div>\n
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d<\/div>\n
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
V<\/strong><\/div>\n
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:<\/div>\n
What if my leaves are falling like its own!<\/div>\n
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,<\/div>\n
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,<\/div>\n
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe<\/div>\n
Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!<\/div>\n
And, by the incantation of this verse,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth<\/div>\n
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!<\/div>\n
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,<\/div>\n
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still on the poetry tack, another which always comes to mind at the turn of the year, deservedly much loved, written by old “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. * \u00a0 Particularly apt given the overnight weather conditions.\u00a0 WordPress has removed some of the spacing,\u00a0 apologies. (*Kirsty removed some of the grammar, likewise. ) Ode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/banthewasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}