Mary Elizabeth Coleridge Poems

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 The earth that made the rose, 
She also is thy mother, and not I. 
The flame wherewith thy maiden spirit glows 
Was lighted at no hearth that I sit by. 
I am as far below as heaven above thee. 
Were I thine angel, more I could not love thee. 

Bid me defend thee! 
Thy danger over-human strength shall lend...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 Sunshine let it be or frost, 
Storm or calm, as Thou shalt choose; 
Though Thine every gift were lost, 
Thee Thyself we could not lose....Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 BLUE is Our Lady’s colour, 
White is Our Lord’s. 
To-morrow I will wear a knot 
Of blue and white cords, 
That you may see it, where you ride 
Among the flashing swords. 

O banner, white and sunny blue, 
With prayer I wove thee! 
For love the white, for faith the heavenly hue, 
And both for him, so tender-true, 
Him...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 When wintry winds are no more heard, 
And joy's in every bosom, 
When summer sings in every bird, 
And shines in every blossom, 
When happy twilight hours are long, 
Come home, my love, and think no wrong! 

When berries gleam above the stream 
And half the fields are yellow, 
Come back to me, my joyous dream, 
The world hath...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 TURN in, my lord, she said ;
As it were the Father of Sin
I have hated the Father of the Dead,
The slayer of my kin ;
By the Father of the Living led,
Turn in, my lord, turn in.

We were foes of old ; thy touch was cold,
But mine is warm as life ;
I have struggled and made thee loose thy hold,
I...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 GOOD FRIDAY in my heart! Fear and affright! 
My thoughts are the Disciples when they fled, 
My words the words that priest and soldier said, 
My deed the spear to desecrate the dead. 
And day, Thy death therein, is changed to night. 

Then Easter in my heart sends up the sun. 
My thoughts are Mary, when she turned to...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 As Christ the Lord was passing by, 
He came, one night, to a cottage door. 
He came, a poor man, to the poor; 
He had no bed whereon to lie. 

He asked in vain for a crust of bread, 
Standing there in the frozen blast. 
The door was locked and bolted fast. 
‘Only a beggar!’ the poor man said....Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 I ask of thee, love, nothing but relief. 
Thou canst not bring the old days back again; 
For I was happy then, 
Not knowing heavenly joy, not knowing grief....Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 Grant me but a day, love, 
But a day, 
Ere I give my heart, 
My heart away, 
Ere I say the word 
I'll ne'er unsay. 

Is it earnest with me? 
Is it play? 
Did the world in arms 
Cry to me, "Stay!" 
Not a moment then 
Would I delay. 

Yet, for very love, 
I say thee nay. 
Ere I...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 MOTHER of God! no lady thou:
Common woman of common earth
Our Lady ladies call thee now,
But Christ was never of gentle birth;
A common man of the common earth.

For God’s ways are not as our ways:
The noblest lady in the land
Would have given up half her days,
Would have cut off her right hand,
To bear the child that was God of the...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 O LET me be in loving nice,
Dainty, fine, and o’er precise,
That I may charm my charmàd dear
As tho’ I felt a secret fear
To lose what never can be lost,—
Her faith who still delights me most!
So shall I be more than true,
Ever in my ageing new.
So dull habit shall not be
Wrongly call’d Fidelity....Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 I sat before my glass one day, 
And conjured up a vision bare, 
Unlike the aspects glad and gay, 
That erst were found reflected there - 
The vision of a woman, wild 
With more than womanly despair. 
Her hair stood back on either side 
A face bereft of loveliness. 
It had no envy now to hide 
What once no...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 I HAVE walked a great while over the snow, 
And I am not tall nor strong. 
My clothes are wet, and my teeth are set, 
And the way was hard and long. 
I have wandered over the fruitful earth, 
But I never came here before. 
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door! 

The...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 Strange Power, I know not what thou art, 
Murderer or mistress of my heart. 
I know I'd rather meet the blow 
Of my most unrelenting foe 
Than live---as now I live---to be 
Slain twenty times a day by thee. 

Yet, when I would command thee hence, 
Thou mockest at the vain pretence, 
Murmuring in mine ear a song 
Once...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 WE never said farewell, nor even looked 
Our last upon each other, for no sign 
Was made when we the linkèd chain unhooked 
And broke the level line. 

And here we dwell together, side by side, 
Our places fixed for life upon the chart. 
Two islands that the roaring seas divide 
Are not more far apart....Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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 When my love did what I would not, what I would not, 
I could hear his merry voice upon the wind, 
Crying, "e;Fairest, shut your eyes, for see you should not. 
Love is blind!" 

When my love said what I say not, what I say not, 
With a joyous laugh he quieted my fears, 
Whispering, "Fairest, hearken not, for...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Mary Elizabeth

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