Poems on Various Subjects (Coleridge)/Effusion 13, written at Midnight

by Charles Lamb

EFFUSION XIII.

WRITTEN

AT MIDNIGHT,

BY THE

SEA - SIDE, AFTER A VOYAGE.

OH! I could laugh to hear the midnight wind
That rushing on it's way with careless sweep
Scatters the Ocean waves—and I could weep,
Ev'n as a child! For now to my rapt mind
On wings of winds comes wild-ey'd Phantasy,
And her dread visions give a rude delight!

O winged Bark! how swift along the night
Pass'd thy proud keel! Nor shall I let go by
Lightly of that drear hour the memory,
When wet and chilly on thy deck I stood
Unbonnetted, and gaz'd upon the flood,
And almost wish'd it were no crime to die!
How Reason reel'd! What gloomy transports rose!
Till the rude dashings rock'd them to repose.

C. L.