The whole description is spiritualized from that of Bion (p. 63):--
'Wildered, ungirt, unsandalled--the thorns pierce
Her hastening feet, and drink her sacred blood.'
11. 4,5. _The invisible Palms of her tender feet._ Shelley more than
once uses 'palms' for 'soles' of the feet. See _Prometheus Unbound_, Act
4:--
'Our feet now, every palm,
Are sandalled with calm';
and _The Triumph of Life_:--
'As she moved under the mass
Of the deep cavern, and, with palms so tender
Their tread broke not the mirror of the billow,
Glided along the river.'
Perhaps Shelley got this usage from the Italian: in that language the
web-feet of aquatic birds are termed 'palme.'
11. 8, 9. _Whose sacred blood, like the young tears of May, Paved with
eternal flowers that undeserving way._ The tears of May are rain-drops;
young, because the year is not far advanced. 'That undeserving way'
seems a very poor expression. See (p. 64) the passage from Bion: 'A tear
the Paphian sheds for each blood-drop of Adonis, and tears and blood on
the earth are turned to flowers.'
+Stanza 25,+ 1.
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