Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT; AN ALLEGORICAL ROMANCE, by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE


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LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT; AN ALLEGORICAL ROMANCE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like a lone arab, old and blind
Last Line: To make hope die anew.
Subject(s): Love


Like a lone Arab, old and blind,
Some caravan had left behind,
Who sits beside a ruin'd well,
Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell;
And now he hangs his aged head aslant,
And listens for a human sound -- in vain!
And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant,
Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain; --
Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour,
Resting my eye upon a drooping plant,
With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower,
I sate upon the couch of camomile;
And -- whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance,
Flitted across the idle brain, the while
I watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope,
In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance,
Turn'd my eye inward -- thee, O genial Hope,
Love's elder sister! thee did I behold
Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold,
With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim,
Lie lifeless at my feet!
And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim,
And stood beside my seat;
She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips,
As she was wont to do; --
Alas! 'twas but a chilling breath
Woke just enough of life in death
To make Hope die anew.






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