Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849)

May, 1840

A LOVELY morn, so still, so very still,

It hardly seems a growing day of Spring,

Though all the odorous buds are blossoming,

And the small matin birds were glad and shrill

Some hours ago; but now the woodland rill

Murmurs along, the only vocal thing,

Save when the wee wren flits with stealthy wing,

And cons by fits and bits her evening trill.

Lovers might sit on such a morn as this

An hour together, looking at the sky,

Nor dare to break the silence with a kiss,

Long listening for the signal of a sigh;

And the sweet Nun, diffused in voiceless prayer,

Feel her own soul through all the brooding air.