? 1794.

?1794.

Each cold restraint, each boding fear
Of age and all her saws severe.
Yon sun now posting to the main
Will set,--but 'tis to rise again;-
But we, when once our mortal light
Is set, must sleep in endless night.
Then come, with whom alone I'll live,
A thousand kisses take and give!
Another thousand!-to the store
Add hundreds-then a thousand more!
And when they to a million mount,
Let confusion take the account,-
That you, the number never knowing,
May continue still bestowing-
That I for joys may never pine,
Which never can again be mine!

THE DEATH OF THE STARLING'
Lugete, O Veneres, Cupidinesque.-CATULLUS.
PITY! mourn in plaintive tone
The lovely starling dead and gone!
Pity mourns in plaintive tone
The lovely starling dead and gone.
Weep, ye Loves! and Venus! weep
The lovely starling fall'n asleep!
Venus sees with tearful eyes--
In her lap the starling lies!
While the Loves all in a ring
Softly stroke the stiffen'd wing.

MORIENS SUPERSTITI?

THE hour-bell sounds, and I must go;
Death waits-again I hear him calling ;-
No cowardly desires have I,

Nor will I shun his face appalling.

5

10

15

5

10

First published, Literary Remains, 1836, i. 274. First collected, P. W., 1893. The titles 'Lesbia' and 'The Death of the Starling' first appear in 1893.

? First published in the Morning Post, May 10, 1798, with a prefatory note :-The two following verses from the French, never before published, were written by a French Prisoner as he was preparing to go to the Guillotine': included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 275. First collected P. W., 1893.

To Lesbia 4 her] its L. R. Mortimer M. P.

7 mortal] little L. R.

18 signed

The Death &c. 7 sees] see L. R.

? 1794.

I die in faith and honour rich-
But ah! I leave behind my treasure
In widowhood and lonely pain ;—
To live were surely then a pleasure!
My lifeless eyes upon thy face
Shall never open more to-morrow ;
To-morrow shall thy beauteous eyes

Be closed to Love, and drown'd in Sorrow;
To-morrow Death shall freeze this hand,
And on thy breast, my wedded treasure,
I never, never more shall live ;-
Alas! I quit a life of pleasure.

MORIENTI SUPERSTES

YET art thou happier far than she
Who feels the widow's love for thee!
For while her days are days of weeping,
Thou, in peace, in silence sleeping,
In some still world, unknown, remote,
The mighty parent's care hast found,
Without whose tender guardian thought
No sparrow falleth to the ground.

THE SIGH1

WHEN Youth his faery reign began
Ere Sorrow had proclaim'd me man;
While Peace the present hour beguil❜d,
And all the lovely Prospect smil'd;
Then Mary! 'mid my lightsome glee
I heav'd the painless Sigh for thee.
And when, along the waves of woe,
My harass'd Heart was doom'd to know
The frantic burst of Outrage keen,

And the slow Pang that gnaws unseen;

1 First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. Coleridge dated the poem, June 1794, but the verses as sent to Southey, in a letter dated November, 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i, 100, 101), could not have taken shape before the August of that year, after the inception of Pantisocracy and his engagement to Sarah Fricker.

The Sigh-Title] Ode MS. E: Song Letter, Nov. 1794, Morrison MSS.: Effusion xxxii: The Sigh 1796.

7 along th'] as tossed on 1803.

9 of the 1803.

waves] wilds Letter, 1794, MS. E.

1794.

Then shipwreck'd on Life's stormy sea
I heaved an anguish'd Sigh for thee!
But soon Reflection's power imprest
A stiller sadness on my breast;
And sickly Hope with waning eye
Was well content to droop and die:
I yielded to the stern decree,

Yet heav'd a languid Sigh for thee!

And though in distant climes to roam,
A wanderer from my native home,
I fain would soothe the sense of Care,
And lull to sleep the Joys that were!
Thy Image may not banish'd be-
Still, Mary! still I sigh for thee.

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20

THE KISS1

ONE kiss, dear Maid! I said and sigh'd-
Your scorn the little boon denied.
Ah why refuse the blameless bliss?
Can danger lurk within a kiss?

Yon viewless wanderer of the vale,
The Spirit of the Western Gale,

At Morning's break, at Evening's close
Inhales the sweetness of the Rose,
And hovers o'er the uninjur'd bloom
Sighing back the soft perfume.
Vigour to the Zephyr's wing

Her nectar-breathing kisses fling;

5

10

1 First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

13 power] hand Letter, Nov. 1794, MS. E.

21-2

I fain would woo a gentle Fair

18 a] the Letter, 1794.

To soothe the aching sense of Care Letter, Nov. 1794.

21 sense of] aching MS. E.

Below 1. 24 June 1794 Poems, 1796.

The Kiss-Title] Ode MS. E: Effusion xxviii 1796: The Kiss 1797, 1828, 1829, 1834: To Sara 1803. MSS. of The Kiss are included in the Estlin volume and in S. T. C.'s quarto copy-book.

11-15

Vigor to his languid wing

The Rose's fragrant kisses bring,

And He o'er all her brighten'd hue

Flings the glitter of the dew.

See she bends her bashful head, MS. E.

? 1794.

And He the glitter of the Dew
Scatters on the Rose's hue.
Bashful lo! she bends her head,
And darts a blush of deeper Red!
Too well those lovely lips disclose
The triumphs of the opening Rose;
O fair! O graceful! bid them prove
As passive to the breath of Love.
In tender accents, faint and low,
Well-pleas'd I hear the whisper'd 'No!'
The whispered 'No'-how little meant!
Sweet Falsehood that endears Consent!
For on those lovely lips the while
Dawns the soft relenting smile,

And tempts with feign'd dissuasion coy
The gentle violence of Joy.

TO A YOUNG LADY!

WITH A POEM ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

MUCH on my early youth I love to dwell,
Ere yet I bade that friendly dome farewell,
Where first, beneath the echoing cloisters pale,
I heard of guilt and wonder'd at the tale!
Yet though the hours flew by on careless wing,
Full heavily of Sorrow would I sing.
Aye as the Star of Evening flung its beam
In broken radiance on the wavy stream,
My soul amid the pensive twilight gloom

15

20

25

5

Mourn'd with the breeze, O Lee Boo! o'er thy tomb. 10

1 First published in The Watchman, No. I, March 1, 1796 included in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Three MSS. are extant: (1) the poem as sent to Southey in a letter dated Oct. 21, 1794 (see Letters of S. T. C., 1855, i. 94, 95); (2) the Estlin volume; (3) the MS. 4o copy-book. 2 Lee Boo, the son of Abba Thule, Prince of the Pelew Islands, came over to England with Captain Wilson, died of the small-pox, and is And He o'er all her brighten'd hue Sheds the glitter of the dew. MS. 4o erased. 18 The fragrant triumphs of the Rose. MS. E. Dawn'd MS. E. 27 And] That MS. E.

13-14

26 Dawns]

To a Young Lady-Title] Verses addressed to a Lady with a poem relative to a recent event in the French Revolution MS. E.

2 friendly] guardian MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E. cloister MS. E.

3 cloisters]

9 My pensive soul amid

10 Boo] Bo MS. E.

5 careless] rosy MS. E. the twilight gloom MS. Letter, 1794.

Where'er I wander'd, Pity still was near,
Breath'd from the heart and glisten'd in the tear:
No knell that toll'd but fill'd my anxious eye,
And suffering Nature wept that one should die!1

Thus to sad sympathies I sooth'd my breast,
Calm, as the rainbow in the weeping West:
When slumbering Freedom roused by high Disdain
With giant Fury burst her triple chain!
Fierce on her front the blasting Dog-star glow'd;
Her banners, like a midnight meteor, flow'd;
Amid the yelling of the storm-rent skies!

She came, and scatter'd battles from her eyes!
Then Exultation waked the patriot fire
And swept with wild hand the Tyrtaean lyre:
Red from the Tyrant's wound I shook the lance,
And strode in joy the reeking plains of France!

Fallen is the Oppressor, friendless, ghastly, low,
And my heart aches, though Mercy struck the blow.
With wearied thought once more I seek the shade,
Where peaceful Virtue weaves the Myrtle braid.
And O if Eyes whose holy glances roll,
Swift messengers, and eloquent of soul;

15

20

25

30

buried in Greenwich churchyard. See Keate's Account of the Pelew Islands. 1788.

1 And suffering Nature, &c.

Southey's Retrospect.

'When eager patriots fly the news to spread

Of glorious conquest, and of thousands dead;

All feel the mighty glow of victor joy

But if extended on the gory plain,

And, snatch'd in conquest, some lov'd friend be slain,
Affection's tears will dim the sorrowing eye,

And suffering Nature grieve that one should die.'

From the Retrospect by Robert Southey, published by Dilly [1795, pp. 9, 10]. MS. 4o.

12 glisten'd] glitter'd MS. Letter, 1794.

16 Calm] Bright MS. E.

13 anxious] anguish'd MS. Letter, 1794. 17 by] with 1829. 23 waked] woke MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E. 24 with wilder hand th' empassion'd lyre MS. Letter, 1794: with wilder hand th' Alcaean lyre MS. 4o, MS. E, Watchman, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. 25 wound] wounds MS. Letter, 1794. 27 In ghastly horror lie th' Oppressors low MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, MS. 4o, 1796, Watchman. 29 With sad and wearied thought I seek the shade MS. E: With wearied thought I seek the amaranth shade MS. Letter, 1794. 30 the] her MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E. 32 The eloquent messengers of the pure soul MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, MS. 4o, Watchman, 1796.