Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“ At eleven o'clock, while we contemplated with great pleasure the rugged top of Chiggre, to which we were fast approaching, and where we were to solace ourselves with plenty of good water, Idris cried out with a loud voice, 'Fall upon your faces, for here is the Simoom.' I saw from the S. E. an haze come on, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow, but not so compressed or thick.—It did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground.——We all lay flat on the ground, as if dead, till Idris told us it was blown over. ”

“ She that reel'd heavily, whose wine was blood;
She that work'd whoredom with the Dæmon Power
And from the dark embrace all evil things
Brought forth and nurtured: mitred Atheism;355
And patient Folly who on bended knee
Gives back the steel that stabb'd him; and pale Fear
Hunted by ghastlier terrors than surround
Moon-blasted Madness when he yells at midnight!
Return pure Faith! return meek Piety!360
The kingdoms of the world are your's: each heart
Self-govern'd, the vast family of Love
Rais'd from the common earth by common toil
Enjoy the equal produce. ”

“ And Her's, the full-orb'd Queen, that shines above.
But I do hear thee, and the high bough mark,
Within whose mild moon-mellow'd foliage hid
Thou warblest sad thy pity-pleading strains,
O! have I listen'd, till my working soul,
Wak'd by those strains to thousand phantasies,
Absorb'd hath ceas'd to listen! Therefore oft,
I hymn thy name: and with a proud delight
Oft will I tell thee, Minstrel of the Moon!
"Most musical, most melancholy" Bird! ”

“ Self, far diffus'd as Fancy's wing can travel!175
Self, spreading still! Oblivious of it's own,
Yet all of all possessing! This is Faith!
This the Messiah's destin'd victory!
But first offences needs must come! Even now
(Black Hell laughs horrible—to hear the scoff!) 180
Thee to defend, meek Galilæan! Thee
And thy mild laws of Love unutterable,
Mistrust and Enmity have burst the bands
Of social Peace; and list'ning Treachery lurks
With pious fraud to snare a brother's life;185
And childless widows o'er the groaning land
Wail numberless; and orphans weep for bread! ”

“ Cast the sad eye to earth, and inly mus'd
Why there was Misery in a world so fair.
Ah far remov'd from all that glads the sense,
From all that softens or ennobles Man,280
The wretched Many! Bent beneath their loads
They gape at pageant Power, nor recognize
Their cots' transmuted plunder! From the tree
Of Knowledge, ere the vernal sap had risen,
Rudely disbranch'd! O blest Society!285
Fitliest depictur'd by some sun-scorcht waste,
Where oft majestic thro' the tainted noon
The Simoom fails, before whose purple pomp
Who falls not prostrate dies! ”

“ Dwarfing Earth's giant brood, what time they muse
On their great Father, great beyond compare!
And marching onwards view high o'er their heads
His waving Banners of Omnipotence.
Who the Creator love, created might75
Dread not: within their tents no Terrors walk.
For they are Holy Things before the Lord
Aye-unprofan'd, tho' Earth should league with Hell!
God's Altar grasping with an eager hand
Fear, the wild-visag'd, pale, eye-starting wretch,80
Sure-refug'd hears his hot pursuing fiends
Yell at vain distance. ”

“ A Ghost! by my Cavern it darted!
⁠In moon-beams the Spirit was drest—
For lovely appear the departed
⁠When they visit the dreams of my Rest!
But disturb'd by the Tempest's commotion
⁠Fleet the shadowy forms of Delight—
Ah cease, thou shrill blast of the Ocean! ”

“ He gaz'd! he thrill'd with deep delight!
Then clapp'd his wings for Joy.
And ô! he cried—"Of magic kind
"What charms this Throne endear!
Some other Love let Venus find——
I'll fix my empire here." ”

“ Drop Friendship's precious pearls, like hour glass sand.
I weep, yet stoop not! the faint anguish flows,
A dreamy pang in Morning's fev'rish doze.
Is this pil'd Earth our Being's passless mound?
Tell me, cold grave! is Death with poppies crown'd? ”

“ Till Memory each form shall bring
The loveliest of her shadowy throng;
And Hope, that soars on sky-lark wing,
Carol wild her gladdest song!
II.
O skill'd with magic spell to roll
The thrilling tones, that concentrate the soul! ”

“ In Beauty's light you glide along:
Your eye is like the star of eve,
And sweet your Voice, as Seraph's song.
Yet not your heavenly Beauty gives
This heart with passion soft to glow:
Within your soul a Voice there lives! ”

“ Loiters, the long-fill'd pitcher in her hand.
Unboastful Stream! Thy fount with pebbled falls
The faded form of past delight recalls,
What time the morning fun of Hope arose,
And all was joy; save when another's woes
A transient gloom upon my soul imprest,
Like passing clouds impictur'd on thy breast. ”

“ No fairer Maid e'er heav'd the bosom's snow.
A thousand Loves around her forehead fly;
A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye;
Love lights her smile—in Joy's bright nectar dips
The flamy rose, and plants it on her lips! ”

“ Departed Merit claims a reverent tear.
Beneath this roof if thy cheer'd moments pass,
Fill to the good man's name one grateful glass:
To higher zest shall Mem'ry wake thy soul,
And Virtue mingle in th' ennobled bowl. ”

“ I felt it prompt the tender Dream,
When slowly sunk the day's last gleam;
⁠You rous'd each gentler sense
As sighing o'er the Blossom's bloom
Meek Evening wakes it's soft perfume
⁠With viewless influence. ”

“ Why hast thou left me? Still in some fond dream
Revisit my sad heart, auspicious Smile!
As falls on closing flowers the lunar beam:
What time, in sickly mood, at parting day
I lay me down and think of happier years ”

“ No fading wreath to Beauty's saintly shrine.
Nor, Sara! thou these early flowers refuse——
Ne'er lurk'd the snake beneath their simple hues:
No purple bloom the Child of Nature brings
From Flatt'ry's night-shade: as he feels, he sings. ”

“ To count the echoings of my feet,
⁠And watch the storm-vex'd flame.
And there in black soul-jaundic'd fit
A sad gloom-pamper'd Man to sit,
⁠And listen to the roar:
When mountain Surges bellowing deep
With an uncouth monster leap
⁠Plung'd foaming on the shore. ”

“ And now a flash of indignation high
Darts thro' the tear, that glistens in mine eye!
Is this the land of song-ennobled line?
Is this the land, where Genius ne'er in vain
Pour'd forth his lofty strain? ”

“ Betrayed, then cast thee forth to Want and Scorn!
The world is pityless: the Chaste one's pride
Mimic of Virtue scowls on thy distress:
Thy Loves and they, that envied thee, deride:
And Vice alone will shelter Wretchedness! ”

“ Scatters the Ocean waves—and I could weep,
Ev'n as a child! For now to my rapt mind
On wings of winds comes wild-ey'd Phantasy,
And her dread visions give a rude delight!
O winged Bark! how swift along the night
Pass'd thy proud keel! ”

“ To find a likeness for friend V—ker,
I've made thro' Earth, and Air, and Sea,
A Voyage of Discovery!
And let me add (to ward off strife)
For V—ker and for V—ker's Wife—
She large and round beyond belief,
A superfluity of Beef! ”

“ Shall yet return, by Absence crown'd,
And scatter livelier roses round.
The Sun, who ne'er remits his fires
On heedless eyes may pour the day:
The Moon, that oft from Heav'n retires,
Endears her renovated ray. ”

“ Swoln be mine eye and dim with heaviness.
Why didst thou listen to Hope's whisper bland?
Or, list'ning, why forget the healing tale,
When Jealousy with fev'rish fancies pale
Jarr'd thy fine fibres with a maniac's hand? ”

“ THE stream with languid murmur creeps,
⁠In Lumin's flowery vale:
Beneath the dew the Lily weeps
⁠Slow-waving to the gale.
"Cease, restless gale! it seems to say
⁠Nor wake me with thy sighing!
The honors of my vernal day
⁠On rapid wing are flying. ”

“ From everlasting Thou! We shall not die.
These, even these, in mercy didst thou form,
Teachers of Good thro' Evil, by brief wrong215
Making Truth lovely, and her future might
Magnetic o'er the fix'd untrembling heart.
In the primeval age a dateless while
The vacant Shepherd wander'd with his flock
Pitching his tent where'er the green grass wav'd.220
But soon Imagination conjur'd up
An host of new desires: with busy aim,
Each for himself, Earth's eager children toil'd. ”

“ And, as floating high in air
Glitter the sunny visions fair,
His eyes dance rapture, and his bosom glows!
Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health,
With generous joy he views th' ideal wealth ”

“ Now dimly peering on the wistful light;
Now hid behind the dragon-wing'd Despair:
But soon emerging in her radiant might
She o'er the sorrow-clouded breast of Care
Sails, like a meteor kindling in it's flight. ”

“ And there came one of the seven Angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither! I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great Whore, that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication, &c. ”

“ Hoar with the snowy blast: while no one cares
To cloathe thy shrivell'd limbs and palsied head.
My Father! throw away this tatter'd vest
That mocks thy shiv'ring! take my garment—use
A young man's arms! ”

“ Chaste Joyance dancing in her bright blue Eyes,
When first the lark high-soaring swells his throat,
Mocks the tir'd eye, and scatters the loud note,
I trace her footsteps on the accustom'd lawn,
I mark her glancing mid the gleams of dawn. ”

“ O'er his hush'd soul our soothing witch'ries shed,
And twine our faery garlands round his head.
V.
When Evening's dusky car
Crown'd with her dewy star
Steals o'er the fading sky in shadowy flight;
On leaves of aspen trees
We tremble to the breeze
Veil'd from the grosser ken of mortal sight. ”

“ UNBOASTFUL Bard! whose verse concise yet clear
Tunes to smooth melody unconquer'd sense
May your fame fadeless live, as "never-sere"
The Ivy wreathes yon Oak, whose broad defence
Embow'rs me from Noon's sultry influence! ”

“ The thousand years lead up their mystic dance,
Old Ocean claps his hands! the Desert shouts!
And soft gales wafted from the haunts of Spring
Melt the primœval North! The mighty Dead
Rise to new life, whoe'er from earliest time385
With conscious zeal had urg'd Love's wond'rous plan
Coadjutors of God. To Milton's trump
The odorous groves of earth reparadis'd
Unbosom their glad echoes: inly hush'd
Adoring Newton his serener eye390
Raises to heaven: and he of mortal kind
Wisest, he [1] first who mark'd the ideal tribes
Down the fine fibres from the sentient brain
Roll subtly-surging. ”

“ I deem that the teaching of the gospel for hire is wrong; because it gives the teacher an improper bias in favor of particular opinions on a subject where it is of the last importance that the mind should be perfectly unbiassed. ”

“ The light was most brilliant on marigolds of an orange or flame colour; but scarcely visible on pale ones.
The flash was frequently seen on the same flower two or three times in quick succession; but more commonly at intervals of several minutes: and where several flowers in the same place emitted their light together, it could be observed at a considerable distance.
This phenomenon was remarked in the months of July and August at sunset, and for half an hour, when the atmosphere was clear; but after a rainy day, or when the air was loaded with vapours nothing of it was seen. ”

“ Burke wanting a present supply of money, it was thought that a pension of 2000l. per annum for forty years certain, would sell for eighteen years purchase, and bring him of course 36,000l. But this pension must, by the very unfortunate act, of which Mr. Burke was himself the author, have come before Parliament. Instead of this Mr. Pitt suggested the idea of a pension of 2000l a-year for three lives, to be charged on the King's Revenue of the West India 41/8 per cents. ”

“ The Pixies, in the superstition of Devonshire are a race of beings invisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man. At a small distance from a village in that county, half way up a wood-cover'd hill, is an excavation, called the Pixies' Parlour. The roots of old trees form its cieling; and on its sides are innumerable cyphers, among which the Author discovered his own cypher and those of his brothers, cut by the hand of their childhood. ”

“ L'athée n'est point à mes yeux un faux esprit; je puis vivre avec lui aussi bien et mieux qu'avec le dévot, car il raisonne davantage, mais il lui manque un sens, et mon ame ne fe fond point entièrement avec la sienne: il est froid au spectacle le plus ravissant, et il cherche un syllogisme lorsque je rends une action de grace. ”

“ And loud lewd Mirth, to Anguish close allied:
Till Frenzy, fierce-ey'd child of moping pain,
Darts her hot lightning flash athwart the brain.
Rest, injur'd shade! Shall Slander squatting near
Spit her cold venom in a dead Man's ear? ”

“ Light from plants. In Sweden a very curious phenomenon has been observed on certain flowers by M. Haggern, lecturer in natural history. One evening he perceived a faint flash of light repeatedly dart from a marigold. ”

“ Injures uninjur'd (in her best-aim'd blow
Victorious Murder a blind Suicide) 135
Haply for this some younger Angel now
Looks down on Human Nature: and, behold!
A sea of blood bestrew'd with wrecks, where mad
Embattling Interests on each other rush
With unhelm'd Rage!140
'Tis the sublime of man,
Our noontide Majesty, to know ourselves
Parts and proportions of one wond'rous whole:
This fraternizes man, this constitutes
Our charities and bearings. But 'tis God 145
Diffus'd thro' all, that doth make all one whole ”