Ode to the West Wind

Canto I

¹O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,

²Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

³Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

⁴Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

⁵Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,

⁶Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

⁷The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,

⁸Each like a corpse within its grave, until

⁹Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

¹⁰Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

¹¹(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

¹²With living hues and odours plain and hill:

¹³Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

¹⁴Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!