Death

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.]



1.
Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere,
All around, within, beneath,
Above is death--and we are death.
2.
Death has set his mark and seal                                      _5
On all we are and all we feel,
On all we know and all we fear,
...
3.
First our pleasures die--and then
Our hopes, and then our fears--and when
These are dead, the debt is due,                                     _10
Dust claims dust--and we die too.
4.
All things that we love and cherish,
Like ourselves must fade and perish;
Such is our rude mortal lot--
Love itself would, did they not.                                     _15