LYRICAL AND DRAMATIC. 8%
Encircle it with silver, and the moon
Strikes into tune
The ripples as they break. For here it was
Their steps did pass,
Dreamy Endymion’s and Artemis’,
Who bent to kiss
Across the moss-grown rocks that build the well :
And here they tell
Of one beneath the hoary stone who hid
And watched unbid
When one most holy came across the glade,
Who saw a maid
So bright that mists were dim upon his eyes,
And yet he spies
So sweet a vision that his gentle breath
Sighed into death:
And others say that here the fairies bring
The fairy king,
And crown him with a flower of eglantine,
And of the vine
Twist him a throne made perfect with wild roses,
And gathered posies
From all the streams that wander through the vale,
And crying, “ Hail!
“ All hail, most beautiful of all our race!”
Cover his face
With blossoms gathered from a fairy tree
Like foam from séa,
So delicate that mortal eyes behold
Ephemeral gold
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