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For all his life the charm did talk

About his path, and hover near With words of promise in his walk, And whispered voices in his ear.

More close and close his footsteps wind;
The magic music in his heart
Beats quick and quicker, till he find
The quiet chamber far apart.

His spirit flutters like a lark,

He stoops

- to kiss her

on his knee.

"Love, if thy tresses be so dark,

How dark those hidden eyes must be ! "

THE REVIVAL.

A touch, a kiss! the charm was snapt. There rose a noise of striking clocks, And feet that ran, and doors that clapt, And barking dogs, and crowing cocks; A fuller light illumined all,

A breeze through all the garden swept, A sudden hubbub shook the hall,

The hedge broke in, the banner blew,
The butler drank, the steward scrawled,
The fire shot up, the martin flew,

The parrot screamed, the peacock squalled, The maid and page renewed their strife,

The palace banged, and buzzed and clackt, And all the long-pent stream of life

Dashed downward in a cataract.

And last of all the king awoke,

And in his chair himself upreared,

And yawned, and rubbed his face, and spoke,

66

By holy rood, a royal beard!

How say you? we have slept, my lords.

My beard has grown into my lap." The barons swore, with many words, 'Twas but an after-dinner's nap.

"Pardy," returned the king, "but still
My joints are something stiff or so.

My lord, and shall we pass the bill
I mentioned half an hour ago?"
The chancellor, sedate and vain,

In courteous words returned reply:
But dallied with his golden chain,

THE DEPARTURE.

And on her lover's arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went

In that new world which is the old:
Across the hills, and far away
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
And deep into the dying day

The happy princess followed him.

"I'd sleep another hundred years,

O love, for such another kiss ;

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"O wake forever, love," she hears,

"O love, 't was such as this and this."

And o'er them many a sliding star,

And

many a merry wind was borne, And, streamed through many a golden bar,

The twilight melted into morn.

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"O happy sleep, that lightly fled!" "O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!"

And o'er them many a flowing range
Of vapor buoyed the crescent-bark,
And, rapt through many a rosy change,
The twilight died into the dark.

"A hundred summers! can it be?

And whither goest thou, tell me where ! "O seek my father's court with me,

For there are greater wonders there." And o'er the hills, and far away

Beyond their utmost purple rim, Beyond the night, across the day,

Through all the world she followed him.

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MORAL.

So, Lady Flora, take my lay,
And if you find no moral there,
Go look in any glass and say,
What moral is in being fair.

O, to what uses shall we put

The wildweed-flower that simply blows?

And is there any moral shut

THE DEPARTURE.

And on her lover's arm she leant,
And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went

In that new world which is the old :
Across the hills, and far away
Beyond their utmost purple rim,
And deep into the dying day

The happy princess followed him.

"I'd sleep another hundred years, O love, for such another kiss ; " "O wake forever, love," she hears,

"O love, 't was such as this and this."

And o'er them many a sliding star,

And many a merry wind was borne, And, streamed through many a golden bar, The twilight melted into morn.

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"O eyes long laid in happy sleep!
"O happy sleep, that lightly fled!”
"O happy kiss, that woke thy sleep!

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