The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 158

And art thou nothing? Such thou art, as when 25 The woodman winding westward up the glen At wintry dawn, where o'er the sheep-track's maze The viewless snow-mist weaves a glist'ning haze, Sees full before him, gliding without tread, An image[456:2] with a glory round its head; 30 The enamoured rustic wors.h.i.+ps its fair hues, Nor knows he makes the shadow, he pursues!

? 1826.

FOOTNOTES:

[455:1] There is no evidence as to date of composition. J. D. Campbell (1893, p. 635) believed that it 'was written at Malta'. Line 18 seems to imply that the poem was not written in England. On the other hand a comparison of ll. 9, 10 with a pa.s.sage in the _Allegoric Vision_, which was re-written with large additions, and first published in 1817, suggests a much later date. The editors of 1852 include these lines among 'Poems written in Later Life', but the date (? 1826) now a.s.signed is purely conjectural. First published in 1828: included in 1829 and 1834.

[456:1] With lines 9, 10 J. D. Campbell compares, 'After a pause of silence: even thus, said he, like two strangers that have fled to the same shelter from the same storm, not seldom do Despair and Hope meet for the first time in the porch of Death.' _Allegoric Vision_ (1798-1817); vide Appendices of this edition.

[456:2] This phenomenon, which the Author has himself experienced, and of which the reader may find a description in one of the earlier volumes of the _Manchester Philosophical Transactions_, is applied figuratively to the following pa.s.sage in the _Aids to Reflection_:--

'Pindar's fine remark respecting the different effects of Music, on different characters, holds equally true of Genius--as many as are not delighted by it are disturbed, perplexed, irritated. The beholder either recognises it as a projected form of his own Being, that moves before him with a Glory round its head, or recoils from it as a Spectre.'--_Aids to Reflection_ [1825], p. 220.

LINENOTES:

[8] thee] _thee_ 1828, 1829.

[13] embodied] _embodied_ 1828, 1829.

[14] living] _living_ 1828, 1829.

[32] makes] _makes_ 1828, 1829.

THE PANG MORE SHARP THAN ALL[457:1]

AN ALLEGORY

I

He too has flitted from his secret nest, Hope's last and dearest child without a name!-- Has flitted from me, like the warmthless flame, That makes false promise of a place of rest To the tired Pilgrim's still believing mind;-- 5 Or like some Elfin Knight in kingly court, Who having won all guerdons in his sport, Glides out of view, and whither none can find!

II

Yes! he hath flitted from me--with what aim, Or why, I know not! 'Twas a home of bliss, 10 And he was innocent, as the pretty shame Of babe, that tempts and shuns the menaced kiss, From its twy-cl.u.s.ter'd hiding place of snow!

Pure as the babe, I ween, and all aglow As the dear hopes, that swell the mother's breast-- 15 Her eyes down gazing o'er her clasped charge;-- Yet gay as that twice happy father's kiss, That well might glance aside, yet never miss, Where the sweet mark emboss'd so sweet a targe-- Twice wretched he who hath been doubly blest! 20

III

Like a loose blossom on a gusty night He flitted from me--and has left behind (As if to them his faith he ne'er did plight) Of either s.e.x and answerable mind Two playmates, twin-births of his foster-dame:-- 25 The one a steady lad (Esteem he hight) And Kindness is the gentler sister's name.

Dim likeness now, though fair she be and good, Of that bright Boy who hath us all forsook;-- But in his full-eyed aspect when she stood, 30 And while her face reflected every look, And in reflection kindled--she became So like Him, that almost she seem'd the same!

IV

Ah! he is gone, and yet will not depart!-- Is with me still, yet I from him exiled! 35 For still there lives within my secret heart The magic image of the magic Child, Which there he made up-grow by his strong art, As in that crystal[458:1] orb--wise Merlin's feat,-- The wondrous 'World of Gla.s.s,' wherein inisled 40 All long'd-for things their beings did repeat;-- And there he left it, like a Sylph beguiled, To live and yearn and languish incomplete!

V

Can wit of man a heavier grief reveal?

Can sharper pang from hate or scorn arise?-- 45 Yes! one more sharp there is that deeper lies, Which fond Esteem but mocks when he would heal.

Yet neither scorn nor hate did it devise, But sad compa.s.sion and atoning zeal!

One pang more blighting-keen than hope betray'd! 50 And this it is my woeful hap to feel, When, at her Brother's hest, the twin-born Maid With face averted and unsteady eyes, Her truant playmate's faded robe puts on; And inly shrinking from her own disguise 55 Enacts the faery Boy that's lost and gone.

O worse than all! O pang all pangs above Is Kindness counterfeiting absent Love!

? 1825-6.

FOOTNOTES:

[457:1] First published in 1834. With lines 36-43, and with the poem as a whole, compare the following fragments of uncertain date, which were first published in a note to the edition of 1893. Both the poem as completed and these fragments of earlier drafts seem to belong to the last decade of the poet's life. The water-mark of the sc.r.a.p of paper on which these drafts are written is 1819, but the tone and workmans.h.i.+p of the verse suggest a much later date, possibly 1826.

'---- into my Heart The magic Child as in a magic gla.s.s Transfused, and ah! he _left_ within my Heart A loving Image and a counterpart.'

'---- into my Heart As 'twere some magic Gla.s.s the magic child Transfused his Image and full counterpart; And then he left it like a Sylph beguiled To live and yearn and languish incomplete!

Day following day, more rugged grows my path.

There dwells a cloud before my heavy eyes; A Blank my Heart, and Hope is dead and buried, Yet the deep yearning will not die; but Love Clings on and cloathes the marrowless remains, Like the fresh moss that grows on dead men's bones, Quaint mockery! and fills its scarlet cups With the chill dewdamps of the Charnel House.

O ask not for my Heart! my Heart is but The darksome vault where Hope lies dead and buried, And Love with Asbest Lamp bewails the Corse.'

[458:1] _Faerie Queene_, b. iii. c. 2, s. 19.

DUTY SURVIVING SELF-LOVE[459:1]

THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE

A SOLILOQUY

Unchanged within, to see all changed without, Is a blank lot and hard to bear, no doubt.

Yet why at others' wanings should'st thou fret?

Then only might'st thou feel a just regret, Hadst thou withheld thy love or hid thy light 5 In selfish forethought of neglect and slight.

O wiselier then, from feeble yearnings freed, While, and on whom, thou may'st--s.h.i.+ne on! nor heed Whether the object by reflected light Return thy radiance or absorb it quite: 10 And though thou notest from thy safe recess Old Friends burn dim, like lamps in noisome air, Love them for what they are; nor love them less, Because to thee they are not what they were.

1826.

FOOTNOTES:

[459:1] First published in 1828: included in 1829 and 1834. The MS. of the first draft, dated Sept. 2, 1826, is preceded by the following introductory note:--

'QUESTION, ANSWER, AND SOLILOQUY.