The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 124

Tranquillity! thou better name Than all the family of Fame!

Thou ne'er wilt leave my riper age To low intrigue, or factious rage; For oh! dear child of thoughtful Truth, 5 To thee I gave my early youth, And left the bark, and blest the steadfast sh.o.r.e, Ere yet the tempest rose and scared me with its roar.

Who late and lingering seeks thy shrine, On him but seldom, Power divine, 10 Thy spirit rests! Satiety And Sloth, poor counterfeits of thee, Mock the tired worldling. Idle Hope And dire Remembrance interlope, To vex the feverish slumbers of the mind: 15 The bubble floats before, the spectre stalks behind.

But me thy gentle hand will lead At morning through the accustomed mead; And in the sultry summer's heat Will build me up a mossy seat; 20 And when the gust of Autumn crowds, And breaks the busy moonlight clouds, Thou best the thought canst raise, the heart attune, Light as the busy clouds, calm as the gliding moon.

The feeling heart, the searching soul, 25 To thee I dedicate the whole!

And while within myself I trace The greatness of some future race, Aloof with hermit-eye I scan The present works of present man-- 30 A wild and dream-like trade of blood and guile, Too foolish for a tear, too wicked for a smile!

1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[360:1] First published in the _Morning Post_ (with two additional stanzas at the commencement of the poem), December 4, 1801: reprinted in _The Friend_ (without heading or t.i.tle), No. 1, Thursday, June 1, 1809: included in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The stanzas were not indented in the _Morning Post_ or _The Friend_.

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] _Vix ea nostra voco_ M. P.

[Before 1]

What Statesmen scheme and Soldiers work, Whether the Pontiff or the Turk, Will e'er renew th' expiring lease Of Empire; whether War or Peace Will best play off the CONSUL'S game; What fancy-figures, and what name Half-thinking, sensual France, a natural Slave, On those ne'er-broken Chains, her self-forg'd Chains, will grave;

Disturb not me! Some tears I shed When bow'd the Swiss his n.o.ble head; Since then, with quiet heart have view'd Both distant Fights and Treaties crude, Whose heap'd up terms, which Fear compels, (Live Discord's green Combustibles, And future Fuel of the funeral Pyre) Now hide, and soon, alas! will feed the low-burnt Fire.

M. P.

[8] tempest] storm-wind M. P.

[15] To] And The Friend, 1809. slumbers] slumber M. P., The Friend.

[17] thy gentle hand] the power Divine M. P.

[21] Autumn] Summer M. P.

[23] The best the thoughts will lift M. P.

[26] thee] her M. P.

[28] some] a M. P.

[29] hermit] hermit's M. P.

TO ASRA[361:1]

Are there two things, of all which men possess, That are so like each other and so near, As mutual Love seems like to Happiness?

Dear Asra, woman beyond utterance dear!

This Love which ever welling at my heart, 5 Now in its living fount doth heave and fall, Now overflowing pours thro' every part Of all my frame, and fills and changes all, Like vernal waters springing up through snow, This Love that seeming great beyond the power 10 Of growth, yet seemeth ever more to grow, Could I trans.m.u.te the whole to one rich Dower Of Happy Life, and give it all to Thee, Thy lot, methinks, were Heaven, thy age, Eternity!

1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[361:1] First published in 1893. The Sonnet to 'Asra' was prefixed to the MS. of _Christabel_ which Coleridge presented to Miss Sarah Hutchinson in 1804.

THE SECOND BIRTH[362:1]

There are two births, the one when Light First strikes the new-awaken'd sense-- The other when two souls unite, And we must count our life from then.

When you lov'd me, and I lov'd you, 5 Then both of us were born anew.

? 1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[362:1] First published from a MS. in 1893.

LOVE'S SANCTUARY[362:2]

This yearning heart (Love! witness what I say) Enshrines thy form as purely as it may, Round which, as to some spirit uttering bliss, My thoughts all stand ministrant night and day Like saintly Priests, that dare not think amiss.

? 1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[362:2] First published from a MS. in 1893.

DEJECTION: AN ODE[362:3]