Like one who on the earth had never stept.
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ho whispers him so pantingly and close !Peona, his sweet sister : of all those,His friends, the dearest Hushing signs she made,And breathed a sister's sorrow to persuadeA yielding up, a cradling on her care.Her eloquence did breathe away the curse :She led him, like some midnight spirit nurseOf happy changes in emphatic dreams,Along a path between two little streams, —Guarding his forehead, with her round elbow.From low-grown branches, and his footsteps slowFrom stumbling over stumps and hillocks small ;Until they came to where tnese streamlets fall.With mingled bubblings and a gentle rush.Into a river, clear, brimful, and flushWith crystal mocking of the trees and sky.A little shallop, floating there hard by.Pointed its beak over tiie fringed bank ;And soon it lightly dipt, and rose, and sank.And dipt again, with the young couplers weight, —Peona guiding, through the water stnught.Towards a bowery island opposite ;Which gaining presently, sne steered lightInto a £ady, fresh, and ripply cove.Where nested was an arbour, overwoveBy many a summer's silent fingering ;To whose cool bosom she was used to bringHer playmates, with their needle broidery.And minstrel memories of times gone by. So she was gently glad to see him laidUnder her favourite bower's quiet shade,On her own couch, new made of flower leaves,Dried carefully on the cooler side of sheavesWhen last the sun his autumn tresses shook.
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