Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 12

by Charles Lamb

EFFUSION XII.

METHINKS, how dainty sweet it were, reclin'd
Beneath the vast o'er shadowing branches high
Of some old wood, in careless sort to lie,
Nor of the busier scenes, we left behind,
Aught envying! And, O Anna! mild-eyed maid!
Beloved! I were well content to play
With thy free tresses the long summer day
Cheating the time beneath the green-wood shade.
But ah! sweet scenes of fancied bliss, adieu!
On rose-leaf beds amid your faery bowers
I all too long have lost the dreamy hours!
Beseems it now the sterner Muse to woo,
If haply she her golden meed impart
To realize the vision of the heart.

C. L.