Page:Fears in Solitude - Coleridge (1798).djvu/28

 Only that film, which flutter'd on the grate, Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing, Methinks, it's motion in this hush of nature Gives it dim sympathies with me, who live, Making it a companionable form, With which I can hold commune. Idle thought! But still the living spirit in our frame, That loves not to behold a lifeless thing, Transfuses into all it’s own delights It’s own volition, sometimes with deep faith, And sometimes with fantastic playfulness. Ah me! amus’d by no such curious toys Of the self-watching subtilizing mind, How often in my early school-boy days; With most believing superstitious wish Presageful, have I gaz'd upon the bars, To watch the stranger there! and oft belike, With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt Of my sweet birthplace; and the old church-tower, Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang