Page:Prometheus Unbound - Shelley.djvu/110

106 The wandering voices and the shadows these Of all that man becomes, the mediators Of that best worship, love, by him and us Given and returned; swift shapes and sounds, which grow More fair and soft as man grows wise and kind, And, veil by veil, evil and error fall: Such virtue has the cave and place around. [Turning to the Spirit of the Hour.)For thee, fair Spirit, one toil remains. Ione, Give her that curved shell, which Proteus old Made Asia's nuptial boon, breathing within it A voice to be accomplished, and which thou Didst hide in grass under the hollow rock.

Thou most desired Hour, more loved and lovely Than all thy sisters, this is the mystic shell; See the pale azure fading into silver Lining it with a soft yet glowing light: Looks it not like lulled music sleeping there?

It seems in truth the fairest shell of Ocean: Its sound must be at once both sweet and strange.

Go, borne over the cities of mankind On whirlwind-footed coursers; once again