POEMS WRITTEN IN 1820
619
All that pale Expectation[1] feigneth fair! 5
Thou vainly curious mind which wouldest guess
Whence thou didst come, and whither thou must[2] go,
And all that[3] never yet was known would[3] know—
Oh, whither hasten ye, that thus ye press,
With such swift feet life's green and pleasant path, 10
Seeking, alike from happiness and woe,
A refuge in the cavern of gray death?
O heart, and mind, and thoughts! what thing do you
Hope to inherit in the grave below?
Thou vainly curious mind which wouldest guess
Whence thou didst come, and whither thou must[2] go,
And all that[3] never yet was known would[3] know—
Oh, whither hasten ye, that thus ye press,
With such swift feet life's green and pleasant path, 10
Seeking, alike from happiness and woe,
A refuge in the cavern of gray death?
O heart, and mind, and thoughts! what thing do you
Hope to inherit in the grave below?
LINES TO A REVIEWER
[Published by Leigh Hunt, The Literary Pocket-Book, 1823. These lines, and the Sonnet immediately preceding, are signed Σ in the Literary Pocket-Book.]
Alas, good friend, what profit can you see
In hating such a hateless thing as me?
There is no sport in hate where[4] all the rage
Is on one side: in vain would you assuage
Your frowns upon an unresisting smile, 5
In which not even contempt lurks to beguile
Your heart, by some faint sympathy of hate.
Oh, conquer what you cannot satiate!
For to your passion I am far more coy
Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy 10
In winter noon. Of your antipathy
If I am the Narcissus, you are free
To pine into a sound with hating me.
In hating such a hateless thing as me?
There is no sport in hate where[4] all the rage
Is on one side: in vain would you assuage
Your frowns upon an unresisting smile, 5
In which not even contempt lurks to beguile
Your heart, by some faint sympathy of hate.
Oh, conquer what you cannot satiate!
For to your passion I am far more coy
Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy 10
In winter noon. Of your antipathy
If I am the Narcissus, you are free
To pine into a sound with hating me.
FRAGMENT OF A SATIRE ON SATIRE
[Published by Edward Dowden, Correspondence of Robert Southey and Caroline Bowles, 1880.]
If gibbets, axes, confiscations, chains,
And racks of subtle torture, if the pains
Of shame, of fiery Hell's tempestuous wave,
Seen through the caverns of the shadowy grave,
Hurling the damned into the murky air 5
While the meek blest sit smiling; if Despair
And Hate, the rapid bloodhounds with which Terror
Hunts through the world the homeless steps of Error,
Are the true secrets of the commonweal
To make men wise and just; . . . 10
And not the sophisms of revenge and fear,
Bloodier than is revenge . . .
Then send the priests to every hearth and home
To preach the burning wrath which is to come,
And racks of subtle torture, if the pains
Of shame, of fiery Hell's tempestuous wave,
Seen through the caverns of the shadowy grave,
Hurling the damned into the murky air 5
While the meek blest sit smiling; if Despair
And Hate, the rapid bloodhounds with which Terror
Hunts through the world the homeless steps of Error,
Are the true secrets of the commonweal
To make men wise and just; . . . 10
And not the sophisms of revenge and fear,
Bloodier than is revenge . . .
Then send the priests to every hearth and home
To preach the burning wrath which is to come,
- ↑ Sonnet.—5 pale Expectation Ollier MS.; anticipation Harvard MS., 1823, edd. 1824, 1839.
- ↑ 7 must Harvard MS., 1823; mayst 1824; mayest edd. 1839.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 8 all that Harvard MS., 1823; that which edd. 1824, 1839. would Harvard MS., 1823; wouldst edd. 1839.
- ↑ Lines to a Reviewer.—3 where edd. 1824, 1839; when 1823.
