A poem for today

The verse I've chosen for today is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834). He was born in Ottery St.Mary in Devon, the youngest son of the vicar. He was sent away to school in London when he was quite young. His life was interesting and varied. He got involved in the French Revolution and the German philosophers. He had passionate friendships and loved being in the company of Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. It is now thought that he suffered from some sort of Bipolar condition, and that together with his ill health made him an opium addict. Two of his most famous poems were written under the influence of opium, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and Kubla Khan'. It is now known that genius and talents have to be present in a person for them to come out while under the influence. drugs cannot bring out talent where there is none, just like having a glass too many doesn't make someone witty who wouldn't be otherwise. I like to think of Samuel Coleridge in Devon and the Lake District, two places which were as lovely then as they are still today. He must have found pleasure in the beauty of the nature there and it must have helped him in his discomfort.
These lines come from his poem 'This Lime-tree Bower my Prison', which he addressed to his friend and fellow poet and writer, Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

Nature ne'er deserts the wise and pure
No plot so narrow, be but nature there,
No waste so vacant, but may well employ
Each faculty of sense and keep the heart
Awake to love and beauty.

The Quantons in Somerset where Coleridge wrote 'the Rime of the Ancient Mariner'