The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 137

The t.i.tle of the following poem was suggested by a fact mentioned by Linnaeus, of a date-tree in a n.o.bleman's garden which year after year had put forth a full show of blossoms, but never produced fruit, till a branch from another date-tree had been conveyed from a distance of 20 some hundred leagues. The first leaf of the MS. from which the poem has been transcribed, and which contained the two or three introductory stanzas, is wanting: and the author has in vain taxed his memory to repair the loss. But a rude draught of the poem contains the substance of the stanzas, and the reader is requested to receive it as the subst.i.tute. 25 It is not impossible, that some congenial spirit, whose years do not exceed those of the Author at the time the poem was written, may find a pleasure in restoring the Lament to its original integrity by a reduction of the thoughts to the requisite metre. _S. T. C._

1

Beneath the blaze of a tropical sun the mountain peaks are 30 the Thrones of Frost, through the absence of objects to reflect the rays. 'What no one with us shares, seems scarce our own.'

The presence of a ONE,

The best belov'd, who loveth me the best,

is for the heart, what the supporting air from within is for the 35 hollow globe with its suspended car. Deprive it of this, and all without, that would have buoyed it aloft even to the seat of the G.o.ds, becomes a burthen and crushes it into flatness.

2

The finer the sense for the beautiful and the lovely, and the fairer and lovelier the object presented to the sense; the more 40 exquisite the individual's capacity of joy, and the more ample his means and opportunities of enjoyment, the more heavily will he feel the ache of solitariness, the more unsubstantial becomes the feast spread around him. What matters it, whether in fact the viands and the ministering graces are 45 shadowy or real, to him who has not hand to grasp nor arms to embrace them?

3

Imagination; honourable aims; Free commune with the choir that cannot die; Science and song; delight in little things, 50 The buoyant child surviving in the man; Fields, forests, ancient mountains, ocean, sky, With all their voices--O dare I accuse My earthly lot as guilty of my spleen, Or call my destiny n.i.g.g.ard! O no! no! 55 It is her largeness, and her overflow, Which being incomplete, disquieteth me so!

4

For never touch of gladness stirs my heart, But tim'rously beginning to rejoice Like a blind Arab, that from sleep doth start 60 In lonesome tent, I listen for thy voice.

Beloved! 'tis not thine; thou art not there!

Then melts the bubble into idle air, And wishing without hope I restlessly despair.

5

The mother with antic.i.p.ated glee 65 Smiles o'er the child, that, standing by her chair And flatt'ning its round cheek upon her knee, Looks up, and doth its rosy lips prepare To mock the coming sounds. At that sweet sight She hears her own voice with a new delight; 70 And if the babe perchance should lisp the notes aright,

6

Then is she tenfold gladder than before!

But should disease or chance the darling take, What then avail those songs, which sweet of yore Were only sweet for their sweet echo's sake? 75 Dear maid! no prattler at a mother's knee Was e'er so dearly prized as I prize thee: Why was I made for Love and Love denied to me?

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[395:1] First published in 1828: included in 1829 and 1834.

LINENOTES:

[5] stood] were yet standing 1828.

[8] mediator] moderator 1828.

[9] The words 'not so' are omitted in 1828.

[11] _remain_ here all the days of his now mortal life, and enjoy the respite thou mayest grant him, in this thy Paradise which thou gavest to him, and hast planted with every tree pleasant to the sight of man and of delicious fruitage. 1828.

[13 foll.] _Treacherous Fiend!_ guilt deep as thine could not be, yet the love of kind not extinguished. But if having done what thou hast done, thou hadst yet the heart of man within thee, and the yearning of the soul for its answering image and completing counterpart, O spirit, desperately wicked! the sentence thou counsellest had been thy own!

1828.

[20] from a Date tree 1828, 1839.

[48] Hope, Imagination, &c. 1828.

[53] With all their voices mute--O dare I accuse 1838.

[55] Or call my n.i.g.g.ard destiny! No! No! 1838.

[61] thy] _thy_ 1828, 1829.

[77] thee] _thee_ 1828, 1829.

SEPARATION[397:1]

A sworded man whose trade is blood, In grief, in anger, and in fear, Thro' jungle, swamp, and torrent flood, I seek the wealth you hold so dear!

The dazzling charm of outward form, 5 The power of gold, the pride of birth, Have taken Woman's heart by storm-- Usurp'd the place of inward worth.

Is not true Love of higher price Than outward Form, though fair to see, 10 Wealth's glittering fairy-dome of ice, Or echo of proud ancestry?--

O! Asra, Asra! couldst thou see Into the bottom of my heart, There's such a mine of Love for thee, 15 As almost might supply desert!

(This separation is, alas!

Too great a punishment to bear; O! take my life, or let me pa.s.s That life, that happy life, with her!) 20

The perils, erst with steadfast eye Encounter'd, now I shrink to see-- Oh! I have heart enough to die-- Not half enough to part from Thee!

? 1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[397:1] First published in 1834. In Pickering's one-volume edition of the issue of 1848 the following note is printed on p. 372:--

'The fourth and last stanzas are adapted from the twelfth and last of Cotton's _Chlorinda_ [Ode]:--

'O my Chlorinda! could'st thou see Into the bottom of my heart, There's such a Mine of Love for thee, The Treasure would supply desert.

Meanwhile my Exit now draws nigh, When, sweet Chlorinda, thou shalt see That I have heart enough to die, Not half enough to part with thee.