Omniana/Volume 1/To have and to be

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

124. To have and to be.

The distinction is marked in a beautiful sentiment of a German poet: Hast thou any thing? Share it with me and I will pay thee the worth of it. Art thou any thing? O then let us exchange souls.

The following is offered as a mere playful illustration:

"Women have no souls, says Prophet Mahomet."

Nay, dearest Anna! why so grave?
I said, you had no soul, 'tis true:
For what you are, you cannot have—
'Tis I, that have one, since I first had you.