Fragment: Wake The Serpent Not

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.]


Wake the serpent not--lest he
Should not know the way to go,--
Let him crawl which yet lies sleeping
Through the deep grass of the meadow!
Not a bee shall hear him creeping, _5
Not a may-fly shall awaken
From its cradling blue-bell shaken,
Not the starlight as he's sliding
Through the grass with silent gliding.