The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge including Poems and Versions of Poems now Published for the First Time: Edited with Textual and Bibliographical Notes by Ernest Hartley Coleridge |
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 | The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge |  |
TO AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN AT THE THEATRE
Maiden, that with sullen brow
Sitt'st behind those virgins gay,
Like a scorch'd and mildew'd bough,
Leafless 'mid the blooms of May!
Sitt'st behind those virgins gay,
Like a scorch'd and mildew'd bough,
Leafless 'mid the blooms of May!
Him who lur'd thee and forsook,
Oft I watch'd with angry gaze,
Fearful saw his pleading look,
Anxious heard his fervid phrase.
Oft I watch'd with angry gaze,
Fearful saw his pleading look,
Anxious heard his fervid phrase.
172
Soft the glances of the Youth,
Soft his speech, and soft his sigh;
But no sound like simple Truth,
But no true love in his eye.
Soft his speech, and soft his sigh;
But no sound like simple Truth,
But no true love in his eye.
Loathing thy polluted lot,
Hie thee, Maiden, hie thee hence!
Seek thy weeping Mother's cot,
With a wiser innocence.
Hie thee, Maiden, hie thee hence!
Seek thy weeping Mother's cot,
With a wiser innocence.
Thou hast known deceit and folly,
Thou hast felt that Vice is woe:
With a musing melancholy
Inly arm'd, go, Maiden! go.
Thou hast felt that Vice is woe:
With a musing melancholy
Inly arm'd, go, Maiden! go.
Mother sage of Self-dominion,
Firm thy steps, O Melancholy!
The strongest plume in Wisdom's pinion
Is the memory of past folly.
Firm thy steps, O Melancholy!
The strongest plume in Wisdom's pinion
Is the memory of past folly.
Mute the sky-lark and forlorn,
While she moults the firstling plumes,
That had skimm'd the tender corn,
Or the beanfield's odorous blooms.
While she moults the firstling plumes,
That had skimm'd the tender corn,
Or the beanfield's odorous blooms.
Soon with renovated wing
Shall she dare a loftier flight,
Upward to the Day-Star spring,
And embathe in heavenly light.
Shall she dare a loftier flight,
Upward to the Day-Star spring,
And embathe in heavenly light.
1797.
| The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge | |