FROM THE SAME
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ow long will ye round me be swelling,O ye blue-tumbling waves of the sea?Not always in caves was my dwelling,Nor beneath the cold blast of the tree.Through the high-sounding halls of Cathlóma 5In the steps of my beauty I strayed;The warriors beheld Ninathóma,And they blesséd the white-bosom'd Maid!A Ghost! by my cavern it darted!In moon-beams the Spirit was drest-- 10For lovely appear the DepartedWhen they visit the dreams of my rest!But disturb'd by the tempest's commotionFleet the shadowy forms of delight--Ah cease, thou shrill blast of the Ocean! 15To howl through my cavern by night. 1793. FOOTNOTES: [39:1] First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.These lines were included in a letter from Coleridge to Mary Evans,dated Feb. 7, 1793. In 1796 and 1803 the following note wasattached:--'How long will ye roll around me, blue-tumbling waters ofOcean. My dwelling is not always in caves; nor beneath the whistlingtree. My [The] feast is spread in Torthoma's Hall. [My father delightedin my voice.] The youths beheld me in [the steps of] my loveliness. Theyblessed the dark-haired Nina-thomà.'--Berrathon [Ossian's _Poems_, 1819,ii. 484]. LINENOTES: Title] Effusion xxx. The Complaint, &c., 1796. [5] halls] Hall Letter, 1793. [8] white-bosom'd] dark-tressed Letter, 1793. [Between 8-9] By my friends, by my Lovers discarded,Like the flower of the Rock now I waste,That lifts her fair head unregarded,And scatters its leaves on the blast. Letter, 1793. [13] disturb'd] dispers'd Letter, 1793. SONGS OF THE PIXIES[40:1] The Pixies, in the superstition of Devonshire, are a race of beingsinvisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man. At a small distancefrom a village in that county, half-way up a wood-covered hill, is anexcavation called the Pixies' Parlour. The roots of old trees form itsceiling; and on its sides are innumerable cyphers, among which theauthor discovered his own cypher and those of his brothers, cut by thehand of their childhood. At the foot of the hill flows the river Otter. To this place the Author, during the summer months of the year 1793,conducted a party of young ladies; one of whom, of stature elegantlysmall, and of complexion colourless yet clear, was proclaimed the FaeryQueen. On which occasion the following Irregular Ode was written. I Whom the untaught Shepherds callPixies in their madrigal,Fancy's children, here we dwell:Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.Here the wren of softest note 5Builds its nest and warbles well;Here the blackbird strains his throat;Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.
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