and so this tree
Oh, that such our death may be!
Died in sleep, and felt no pain,
To live in happier form again:
From which, beneath Heaven s fairest star,
The artist wrought this loved guitar;
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
More like this
For those of you who'd like to read the rest of the Percy Bysshe Shelley essay I quoted from in this post, you can find the version I have
Most of us think of Percy Bysshe Shelley as a romantic poet concerned with love and beauty. He was, of course. But he was also a fierce fighter for liberty and foe of unbridled political power.
His target in this sonnet was King George:
Ozymandias
Angels of rain and lightning! there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head