Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Of Misery fancy-crazed! and now once more

Naked, and void, and fixed, and all within

The unquiet silence of confuséd thought 260

And shapeless feelings. For a mighty hand

Was strong upon her, till in the heat of soul

To the high hill-top tracing back her steps,

Aside the beacon, up whose smouldered stones

The tender ivy-trails crept thinly, there, 265

Unconscious of the driving element,

Yea, swallowed up in the ominous dream, she sate

Ghastly as broad-eyed Slumber! a dim anguish

Breathed from her look! and still with pant and sob,

Inly she toiled to flee, and still subdued, 270

Felt an inevitable Presence near.

Thus as she toiled in troublous ecstasy,

A horror of great darkness wrapt her round,

And a voice uttered forth unearthly tones,

Calming her soul,—’O Thou of the Most High 275

Chosen, whom all the perfected in Heaven

Behold expectant—’

[The following fragments were intended to form part of the poem when

finished.]

‘Maid beloved of Heaven!

(To her the tutelary Power exclaimed)

Of Chaos the adventurous progeny 280

Thou seest; foul missionaries of foul sire.

Fierce to regain the losses of that hour

When Love rose glittering, and his gorgeous wings

Over the abyss fluttered with such glad noise,

As what time after long and pestful calms, 285

With slimy shapes and miscreated life

Poisoning the vast Pacific, the fresh breeze

Wakens the merchant-sail uprising. Night

An heavy unimaginable moan

Sent forth, when she the Protoplast beheld 290

Stand beauteous on Confusion’s charméd wave.

Moaning she fled, and entered the Profound

That leads with downward windings to the Cave

Of Darkness palpable, Desert of Death

Sunk deep beneath Gehenna’s massy roots. 295

There many a dateless age the Beldame lurked

And trembled; till engendered by fierce Hate,

Fierce Hate and gloomy Hope, a Dream arose,

Shaped like a black cloud marked with streaks of fire.

It roused the Hell-Hag: she the dew-damp wiped 300

From off her brow, and through the uncouth maze

Retraced her steps; but ere she reached the mouth

Of that drear labyrinth, shuddering she paused,

Nor dared re-enter the diminished Gulph.

As through the dark vaults of some mouldered Tower 305

(Which, fearful to approach, the evening hind

Circles at distance in his homeward way)

The winds breathe hollow, deemed the plaining groan

Of prisoned spirits; with such fearful voice

Night murmured, and the sound through Chaos went. 310

Leaped at her call her hideous-fronted brood!

A dark behest they heard, and rushed on earth;

Since that sad hour, in Camps and Courts adored,

Rebels from God, and Tyrants o’er Mankind!’

From his obscure haunt 315

Shrieked Fear, of Cruelty the ghastly Dam,

Feverous yet freezing, eager-paced yet slow,

As she that creeps from forth her swampy reeds.

Ague, the biform Hag! when early Spring

Beams on the marsh-bred vapours. 320

‘Even so (the exulting Maiden said)

The sainted Heralds of Good Tidings fell,

And thus they witnessed God! But now the clouds

Treading, and storms beneath their feet, they soar

Higher, and higher soar, and soaring sing 325

Loud songs of triumph! O ye Spirits of God,

Hover around my mortal agonies!’

She spake, and instantly faint melody

Melts on her ear, soothing and sad, and slow,

Such measures, as at calmest midnight heard 330

By agéd Hermit in his holy dream,

Foretell and solace death; and now they rise

Louder, as when with harp and mingled voice

The white-robed multitude of slaughtered saints

At Heaven’s wide-open’d portals gratulant 335

Receive some martyred patriot. The harmony

Entranced the Maid, till each suspended sense

Brief slumber seized, and confused ecstasy.

At length awakening slow, she gazed around:

And through a mist, the relict of that trance 340

Still thinning as she gazed, an Isle appeared,

Its high, o’erhanging, white, broad-breasted cliffs,

Glassed on the subject ocean. A vast plain

Stretched opposite, where ever and anon

The ploughman following sad his meagre team 345

Turned up fresh sculls unstartled, and the bones

Of fierce hate-breathing combatants, who there

All mingled lay beneath the common earth,

Death’s gloomy reconcilement! O’er the fields

Stept a fair Form, repairing all she might, 350

Her temples olive-wreathed; and where she trod,

Fresh flowerets rose, and many a foodful herb.

But wan her cheek, her footsteps insecure,

And anxious pleasure beamed in her faint eye,

As she had newly left a couch of pain, 355

Pale Convalescent! (Yet some time to rule

With power exclusive o’er the willing world,

That blessed prophetic mandate then fulfilled —

Peace be on Earth!) An happy while, but brief,

She seemed to wander with assiduous feet, 360

And healed the recent harm of chill and blight,

And nursed each plant that fair and virtuous grew.

But soon a deep precursive sound moaned hollow:

Black rose the clouds, and now, (as in a dream)

Their reddening shapes, transformed to Warrior-hosts, 365

Coursed o’er the sky, and battled in mid-air.

Nor did not the large blood-drops fall from Heaven

Portentous! while aloft were seen to float,

Like hideous features looming on the mist,

Wan stains of ominous light! Resigned, yet sad, 370

The fair Form bowed her olive-crownéd brow,

Then o’er the plain with oft-reverted eye

Fled till a place of Tombs she reached, and there

Within a ruined Sepulchre obscure

Found hiding-place.

The delegated Maid 375

Gazed through her tears, then in sad tones exclaimed; —

Thou mild-eyed Form! wherefore, ah! wherefore fled?

The Power of Justice like a name all light,

Shone from thy brow; but all they, who unblamed

Dwelt in thy dwellings, call thee Happiness. 380

Ah! why, uninjured and unprofited,

Should multitudes against their brethren rush?

Why sow they guilt, still reaping misery?

Lenient of care, thy songs, O Peace! are sweet,

As after showers the perfumed gale of eve, 385

That flings the cool drops on a feverous cheek;

And gay thy grassy altar piled with fruits.

But boasts the shrine of Dæmon War one charm,

Save that with many an orgie strange and foul,

Dancing around with interwoven arms, 390

The Maniac Suicide and Giant Murder

Exult in their fierce union! I am sad,

And know not why the simple peasants crowd

Beneath the Chieftains’ standard!’ Thus the Maid.

To her the tutelary Spirit said: 395

‘When Luxury and Lust’s exhausted stores

No more can rouse the appetites of kings;

When the low flattery of their reptile lords

Falls flat and heavy on the accustomed ear;

When eunuchs sing, and fools buffoonery make, 400

And dancers writhe their harlot-limbs in vain;

Then War and all its dread vicissitudes

Pleasingly agitate their stagnant hearts;

Its hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats,

Insipid Royalty’s keen condiment! 405

Therefore, uninjured and unprofited

(Victims at once and executioners),

The congregated Husbandmen lay waste

The vineyard and the harvest. As along

The Bothnic coast, or southward of the Line, 410

Though hushed the winds and cloudless the high noon,

Yet if Leviathan, weary of ease,

In sports unwieldy toss his island-bulk,

Ocean behind him billows, and before