THE SIGH

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834

When Youth his faery reign began

Ere sorrow had proclaimed me man;

While Peace the present hour beguiled,

And all the lovely Prospect smiled;

Then Mary! 'mid my lightsome glee

I heav'd the painless Sigh for thee.

And when, along the waves of woe,

My harassed Heart was doomed to know

The frantic burst of outrage keen,

And the slow Pang that gnaws unseen;

Then shipwrecked on Life's stormy sea

I heaved an anguished Sigh for thee!

But soon Reflection's power imprest

A stiller sadness on my breast;

And sickly Hope with waning eye

Was well content to droop and die:

I yielded to the stern decree,

Yet heaved a languid Sigh for thee!

And though in distant climes to roam,

A wanderer from my native home,

I fain would soothe the sense of Care,

And lull to sleep the Joys that were,

Thy Image may not banished be - 

Still, Mary! still I sigh for thee.

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