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THREE years she grew in sun and shower; | |
Then Nature said, A lovelier flower | |
On earth was never sown; | |
This child I to myself will take; | |
She shall be mine, and I will make | 5 |
A lady of my own. | |
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Myself will to my darling be | |
Both law and impulse; and with me | |
The girl, in rock and plain, | |
In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, | 10 |
Shall feel an overseeing power | |
To kindle or restrain. | |
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The floating clouds their state shall lend | |
To her; for her the willow bend: | |
Nor shall she fail to see, | 15 |
Even in the motions of the storm, | |
Grace that shall mould the maidens form | |
By silent sympathy. | |
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The stars of midnight shall be dear | |
To her; and she shall lean her ear | 20 |
In many a secret place | |
Where rivulets dance their wayward round; | |
And beauty, born of murmuring sound, | |
Shall pass into her face. | |
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And vital feelings of delight | 25 |
Shall rear her form to stately height, | |
Her virgin bosom swell: | |
Such thoughts to Lucy I will give, | |
While she and I together live | |
Here in this happy dell. | 30 |
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