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University of Virginia Library

Phantasmion

By Sara Coleridge

Coleridge, Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

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[See the bright stranger!]

[Tho' I be young—ah! well-a-day!]

[Sylvan stag, securely play]

[One face alone, one face alone]

[Deem not that our eldest heir]

[While the storm her bosom scourges]

[Many a fountain cool and shady]

[The captive bird with ardour sings]

[The sun may speed or loiter on his way]

[Grief's heavy hand hath sway'd the lute]

[Life and light, Anthemna bright]

[O sleep, my babe, hear not the rippling wave]

[How gladsome is a child, and how perfect is his mirth]

[I tremble when with look benign]

[Ne'er ask where knaves are mining.]

[How high yon lark is heavenward borne!]

[Newts and blindworms do no wrong]

[The winds were whispering, the waters glistering]

[False Love, too long thou hast delay'd]

[He came unlook'd for, undesir'd]

[Yon changeful cloud will soon thy aspect wear]

[I was a brook in straitest channel pent]

[By the storm invaded]

[I thought by tears thy soul to move]

[Blest is the tarn which towering cliffs o'ershade]

[What means that darkly-working brow]

[Methought I wander'd dimly on]

[“The spring returns, and balmy budding flow'rs]

[Full oft before some gorgeous fane]

[See yon blithe child that dances in our sight!]

[Their armour is flashing]

[Ah, where lie now those locks that lately stream'd]

[Poor is the portrait that one look portrays]

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[What means that darkly-working brow]

What means that darkly-working brow,
Melledina?
Whose heart-strings art thou wresting now,
Melledina?
The dearest pleasure follows pain,
But thou with grief shalt aye remain,
And for thyself hast forged the chain,
Melledina!

Ah, dream of sullen skies no more,
Sad Leucoia!
The roughest ocean hath a shore,
Sweet Leucoia!
A steadfast shore the billows kiss,
And oft some fancied joy to miss,
Prepares the heart for higher bliss,
Young Leucoia!