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IS LOVE A FANCY, OR A FEELING?, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Is love a fancy, or a feeling? No
Last Line: And hope a spectre in a ruin bare.
Alternate Author Name(s): Coleridge, Hartley
Subject(s): Love - Nature Of


Is love a fancy, or a feeling? No,
It is immortal as immaculate Truth.
'Tis not a blossom, shed as soon as youth
Drops from the stem of life -- for it will grow
In barren regions, where no waters flow,
Nor ray of promise cheats the pensive gloom.
A darkling fire, faint hovering o'er a tomb,
That but itself and darkness nought doth show,
Is my love's being, -- yet it cannot die,
Nor will it change, though all be changed beside;
Though fairest beauty be no longer fair,
Though vows be false, and faith itself deny,
Though sharp enjoyment be a suicide,
And hope a spectre in a ruin bare.





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