<font size="+3">I</font>n Xanadu did Kubla Khan<br />
A stately pleasure-dome decree :<br />
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran<br />
Through caverns measureless to man<br />
<a name="5"></a>Down to a sunless sea.<br />
So twice five miles of fertile ground<br />
With walls and towers were girdled round :<br />
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,<br />
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;<br />
<a name="10">And here were forests ancient as the hills,<br />
</a> Enfolding <a href="http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Reflections_Retirement.html#30">sunny
spots</a> of greenery.
<p>But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted<br />
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !<br />
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted<br />
<a name="15">As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted<br />
</a> By woman wailing for her demon-lover !<br />
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,<br />
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,<br />
A <a href="http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/notes.html#Kubla4">mighty fountain</a> <a href="http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/resources/dictionary.html#momently">momently</a> was forced
:<br />
<a name="20">Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst<br />
</a> Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,<br />
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :<br />
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever<br />
It flung up momently the sacred river.<br />
<a name="25">Five miles meandering with a mazy motion<br />
</a> Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,<br />
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,<br />
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :<br />
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far<br />
<a name="30">Ancestral voices prophesying war !<br />
</a></p>
The shadow of the dome of pleasure<br />
Floated midway on the waves ;<br />
Where was heard the mingled measure<br />
From the fountain and the caves.<br />
<a name="35"></a>It was a miracle of rare device,<br />
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !<a href="http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/notes.html#KublaKhan2">A damsel with a
dulcimer</a><br />
In a vision once I saw :<br />
It was an Abyssinian maid,<br />
<a name="40">And on her dulcimer she played,<br />
</a> Singing of Mount Abora.<br />
Could I revive within me<br />
Her symphony and song,<br />
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,<br />
<a name="45"></a>That with <a href="http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Christabel.html#485">music loud and
long</a>,<br />
I would build that dome in air,<br />
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !<br />
And all who heard should see them there,<br />
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !<br />
<a name="50">His flashing eyes, his floating hair !<br />
</a> Weave a circle round him thrice,<br />
And close your eyes with holy dread,<br />
For he on honey-dew hath fed,<br />
And drunk the milk of Paradise.