CCCXV A DREAM OF THE UNKNOWN I dream'd that as I wander'd by the way Mix'd with a sound of waters murmuring Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, But kiss'd it and then fled, as Thou mightest in dream. There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, Daisies, those pearl'd Arcturi of the earth, The constellated flower that never sets; Faint oxlips; tender blue-bells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets Its mother's face with heaven-collected tears, When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears. And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green cow-bind and the moonlight-colour'd May, And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine Was the bright dew yet drain'd not by the day; And wild roses, and ivy serpentine With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray; And flowers azure, black, and streak'd with gold, Fairer than any waken'd eyes behold. And nearer to the river's trembling edge There grew broad flag flowers, purple prank'd with white, And starry river-buds among the sedge, And floating water-lilies, broad and bright, Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge With moonlight beams of their own watery light; Methought that of these visionary flowers That the same hues, which in their natural bowers CCCXVI KUBLA KHAN In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree : So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round: But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover! And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, The shadow of the dome of pleasure Where was heard the mingled measure A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice! In a vision once I saw : It was an Abyssinian maid, To such a deep delight 'twould win me I would build that dome in air, That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And drunk the milk of Paradise. S. T. Coleridge CCCXVII THE INNER VISION Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes -If Thought and Love desert us, from that day Whate'er the senses take or may refuse,— The Mind's internal heaven shall shed her dews W. Wordsworth CCCXVIII THE REALM OF FANCY Ever let the Fancy roam; Pleasure never is at home: At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth, Then let winged Fancy wander Through the thought still spread beyond her : Open wide the mind's cage-door, She'll dart forth, and cloudward soar. O sweet Fancy! let her loose; When the soundless earth is muffled, When the Night doth meet the Noon To banish Even from her sky. Sit thee there, and send abroad, With a mind self-overaw'd, Fancy, high-commission'd :-send her! She has vassals to attend her : From dewy sward or thorny spray; And thou shalt quaff it :-thou shalt hear Rustle of the reapéd corn; Sweet birds antheming the morn : Or the rooks, with busy caw, Sapphire queen of the mid-May; When the bee-hive casts its swarm; Acorns ripe down-pattering, While the autumn breezes sing. Oh, sweet Fancy! let her loose; Everything is spoilt by use : Where's the cheek that doth not fade, Where's the eye, however blue, Where's the voice, however soft, |