The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—
See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
Summary / Analysis
“Love’s Philosophy” is a persuasive love letter by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley describes many different ways which nature mingles among itself. How everything is meant to be with another thing. He personifies nature as full of loving relationships: mountains kissing heaven; waves embracing each other; fraternal flowers; sunlight grasping the earth; moonbeams kissing the sea. Shelley lists all of this out as examples of the sweetness of the world and contrasts it to say, what is it all worth, if we are not joined in that same sweetness?