“A pardlike Spirit beautiful and swift —
A Love in desolation masked; — a Power
Girt round with weakness; — it can scarce uplift
The weight of the superincumbent hour;
It is a dying lamp, a falling shower,
A breaking billow; — even whilst we speak
Is it not broken? On the withering flower
The killing sun smiles brightly: on a cheek
The life can burn in blood, even while the heart may break.”

—  Percy Bysshe Shelley , Adonaïs

St. XXXII
Adonais (1821)

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Percy Bysshe Shelley 246
English Romantic poet 1792–1822

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