[Charles Lamb]

TOGETHER WITH AN UNFINISHED POEM

Thus far my scanty brain hath built the rhyme
Elaborate and swelling: yet the heart
Not owns it. From thy spirit-breathing powers
I ask not now, my friend! the aiding verse,
Tedious to thee, and from thy anxious thought [5]
Of dissonant mood. In fancy (well I know)
From business wandering far and local cares,
Thou creepest round a dear-lov'd Sister's bed
With noiseless step, and watchest the faint look,
Soothing each pang with fond solicitude, [10]
And tenderest tones medicinal of love.
I too a Sister had, an only Sister—
She lov'd me dearly, and I doted on her!
To her I pour'd forth all my puny sorrows
(As a sick Patient in a Nurse's arms) [15]
And of the heart those hidden maladies
That e'en from Friendship's eye will shrink asham'd.
[[79]]O! I have wak'd at midnight, and have wept,
Because she was not!—Cheerily, dear Charles!
Thou thy best friend shalt cherish many a year: [20]
Such warm presages feel I of high Hope.
For not uninterested the dear Maid
I've view'd—her soul affectionate yet wise,
Her polish'd wit as mild as lambent glories
That play around a sainted infant's head. [25]
He knows (the Spirit that in secret sees,
Of whose omniscient and all-spreading Love
Aught to implore[79:1] were impotence of mind)
That my mute thoughts are sad before his throne,
Prepar'd, when he his healing ray vouchsafes, [30]
Thanksgiving to pour forth with lifted heart,
And praise Him Gracious with a Brother's Joy!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[78:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, and, again, in 1844. Lines 12-19 ('I too a sister . . . Because she was not') are published in 1834 (i. 35) under the heading 'The Same', i. e. the same as the preceding poem, 'On seeing a Youth affectionately welcomed by a Sister.' The date, December 1794, affixed in 1797 and 1803, is correct. The poem was sent in a letter from Coleridge to Southey, dated December 1794. (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 128.) The 'Unfinished Poem' was, certainly, Religious Musings, begun on Christmas Eve, 1794. The text is that of 1844.

[79:1] I utterly recant the sentiment contained in the lines—

'Of whose omniscient and all-spreading Love
Aught to implore were impotence of mind,'

it being written in Scripture, 'Ask, and it shall be given you,' and my human reason being moreover convinced of the propriety of offering petitions as well as thanksgivings to Deity. [Note of S. T. C., in Poems, 1797 and 1803.]