The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 169

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] The heading 'Forbearance' appears first in 1893.

LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT[488:3]

AN ALLEGORIC ROMANCE

Like a lone Arab, old and blind, Some caravan had left behind, Who sits beside a ruin'd well, Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell; And now he hangs his aged head aslant, 5 And listens for a human sound--in vain!

And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant, Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain;-- Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour, Resting my eye upon a drooping plant, 10 With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower, I sate upon the couch of camomile; And--whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance, Flitted across the idle brain, the while I watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope, 15 In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance, Turn'd my eye inward--thee, O genial Hope, Love's elder sister! thee did I behold, Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold, With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim, 20 Lie lifeless at my feet!

And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim, And stood beside my seat; She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips, As she was wont to do;-- 25 Alas! 'twas but a chilling breath Woke just enough of life in death To make Hope die anew.

L'ENVOY

In vain we supplicate the Powers above; There is no resurrection for the Love 30 That, nursed in tenderest care, yet fades away In the chill'd heart by gradual self-decay.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[488:3] Lines 1-28 were first published in _Friends.h.i.+p's Offering_ for 1834, signed and dated 'S. T. Coleridge, August 1833': included in _P.

W._, 1834. Lines 29-32 were first added as 'L'Envoy' in 1852. J. D.

Campbell in a note to this poem (1893, p. 644) prints an expanded version of these lines, which were composed on April 24, 1824, 'as Coleridge says, "without taking my pen off the paper"'. The same lines were sent in a letter to Allsop, April 27, 1824 (_Letters, &c._, 1836, ii. 174-5) with a single variant (line 3) 'uneclips'd' for 'unperturb'd'. In the draft of April 24, four lines were added, and of these an alternative version was published in _P. W._, 1834, with the heading 'Desire' (vide _ante_, p. 485). For an earlier draft in S. T.

C.'s handwriting vide Appendices of this edition.

LINENOTES:

[4] Where basking Dipsads[489:A] hiss and swell F. O. 1834.

[489:A] The Asps of the sand-desert, anciently named Dipsads.

[7] And now] Anon F. O. 1834.

[14] Flitting across the idle sense the while F. O. 1834.

[27] That woke enough F. O. 1834.

[29-32]

Idly we supplicate the Powers above: There is no resurrection for a Love That uneclips'd, unshadow'd, wanes away In the chill'd heart by inward self-decay.

Poor mimic of the Past! the love is o'er That must _resolve_ to do what did itself of yore.

Letter, April 27, 1824.

TO THE YOUNG ARTIST[490:1]

KAYSER OF KASERWERTH

Kayser! to whom, as to a second self, Nature, or Nature's next-of-kin, the Elf, Hight Genius, hath dispensed the happy skill To cheer or soothe the parting friend's 'Alas!'

Turning the blank scroll to a magic gla.s.s, 5 That makes the absent present at our will; And to the shadowing of thy pencil gives Such seeming substance, that it almost lives.

Well hast thou given the thoughtful Poet's face!

Yet hast thou on the tablet of his mind 10 A more delightful portrait left behind-- Even thy own youthful beauty, and artless grace, Thy natural gladness and eyes bright with glee!

Kayser! farewell!

Be wise! be happy! and forget not me.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[490:1] First published in 1834. The original of Kayser's portrait of S.

T. C., a pencil-sketch, is in the possession of the Editor. In 1852 Kaserwerth is printed Kayserwerth. The modern spelling is Kaiserswerth.

MY BAPTISMAL BIRTH-DAY[490:2]

G.o.d's child in Christ adopted,--Christ my all,-- What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call The Holy One, the Almighty G.o.d, my Father?-- Father! in Christ we live, and Christ in Thee-- 5 Eternal Thou, and everlasting we.

The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death: In Christ I live! in Christ I draw the breath Of the true life!--Let then earth, sea, and sky Make war against me! On my heart I show 10 Their mighty master's seal. In vain they try To end my life, that can but end its woe.-- Is that a death-bed where a Christian lies?-- Yes! but not his--'tis Death itself there dies.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[490:2] First published in _Friends.h.i.+p's Offering_ for 1834: included in _P. W._, 1834. Emerson heard Coleridge repeat an earlier version of these lines on Aug. 5, 1833.

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] Lines composed on a sick-bed, under severe bodily suffering, on my spiritual birthday, October 28th. F. O.

[1] Born unto G.o.d in Christ--in Christ, my All! F. O.

[3] I] we F. O.

[4] my] our F. O.