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Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Ode To Sara, In Answer To A Letter From Bristol
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Nor travels my meand`ring eye
The starry wilderness on high;
     Nor now with curious sight
I mark the glow-worm as I pass,
Move with `green radiance` thro` the grass,
     An emerald of light.

O ever-present to my view!
My wafted spirit is with you, 
     And soothes your boding fears;
I see you all opprest with gloom
Sit lonely in that cheerless room--
     Ah me! you are in tears!

Belovèd woman! did you fly
Chilled friendship`s dark disliking eye
     Or mirth`s untimely din?
With cruel weight these trifles press
A temper sore with tenderness,
     When aches the void within.

But why with sable wand unblest
Should fancy rouse within my breast
     Dim-visaged shapes of dread?
Untenanting its beauteous clay,
My Sara`s soul has winged its way,
     And hovers round my head!

I felt it prompt the tender dream,
When, slowly sunk the day`s last gleam,
     You roused each gentler sense;
As sighing o`er the blossom`s bloom
Meek evening wakes its soft perfume
     With viewless influence.

And hark, my love! The sea-breeze moans
Thro` yon reft house! O`er rolling stones,
     With broad impetuous sweep,
The fast encroaching tides supply 
The silence of the cloudless sky
     With mimic thunders deep.

Dark-redd`ning from the channel`d isle 
(Where stands one solitary pile
     Unslated by the blast) 
The watchfire, like a sullen star,
Twinkles to many a dozing star,
     Rude-cradled on the mast. 

Ev`n there -- beneath that light-house tower--
In the tumultuous evil hour
     Ere peace with Sara came,
Time was, I should have thought it sweet
To count the echoings of my feet,
     And watch the troubled flame.

And there in black soul-jaundiced fit 
A sad gloom-pampered man to sit,
     And listen to the roar,
When mountain surges, bellowing deep,
With an uncouth monster leap
     Plunged foaming on the shore.

Then by the lightning`s blaze to mark,
Some toiling tempest-shattered bark,
     Her vain distress-guns hear:
And when a second-sheet of light
Flashed o`er the blackness of the night --
     To see no vessel there!

But fancy now more gayly sings;
Or if awhile she droop her wings,
     As skylark`s `mid the corn,
On summer fields she grounds her breast:
Th` oblivious poppy o`er her nest,
     Nods, till returning morn.

O mark those smiling tears, that swell
The opened rose!  From heaven they fell,
     And with the sunbeam blend;
Blessed visitations from above:
Such are the tender woes of love
     Fost`ring the heart they bend!

When stormy midnight howling round
Beats on our roof with clatt`ring sound,
     To me your arms you`ll stretch:
Great God! you`ll say -- To us so kind,
O shelter from this loud bleak wind
     The houseless, friendless wretch!

The tears that tremble down your cheek,
Shall bathe my kisses chaste and meek
     In pity`s dew divine;
And from your heart the sighs that steal
Shall make your rising bosom feel 
     The answ`ring swell of mine!

How oft, my love! with shapings sweet
I paint the monument we shall meet!
     With eager speed I dart--
I seize you in the vacant air,
And fancy, with a husband`s care,
     I press you to my heart!
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