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                Those silver clouds collected round the sun
                His mid-day warmth abate not, seeming less
                To overshade than multiply his beams
                By soft reflection — grateful to the sky,
                To rocks, fields, woods. Nor doth our human sense
                Ask, for its pleasure, screen or canopy
                More ample than the time-dismantled Oak
                Spreads o'er this tuft of heath, which now, attired
                In the whole fulness of its bloom, affords
                Couch beautiful as e'er for earthly use
                Was fashioned; whether, by the hand of Art,
                That eastern Sultan, amid flowers enwrought
                On silken tissue, might diffuse his limbs
                In languor; or, by Nature, for repose
                Of panting Wood-nymph, wearied with the chase.
                О Lady! fairer in thy Poet's sight
                Than fairest spiritual creature of the groves,
                Approach; — and, thus invited, crown with rest
                The noon-tide hour though truly some there are
                Whose footsteps superstitiously avoid
                This venerable Tree; for, when the wind
                Blows keenly, it sends forth a creaking sound
                (Above the general roar of woods and crags)
                Distinctly heard from far — a doleful note!
                As if (so Grecian shepherds would have deemed)
                The Hamadryad, pent within, bewailed
                Some bitter wrong. Nor is it unbelieved,
                By ruder fancy, that a troubled ghost
                Haunts the old trunk; lamenting deeds of which
                The flowery ground is conscious. But no wind
                Sweeps now along this elevated ridge;
                Not even a zephyr stirs; — the obnoxious Tree
                Is mute; and, in his silence, would look down,
                О lovely Wanderer of the trackless hills,
                On thy reclining form with more delight
                Than his coevals in the sheltered vale
                Seem to participate, the while they view
                Their own far-stretching arms and leafy heads
                Vividly pictured in some glassy pool,
                That, for a brief space, checks the hurrying stream!

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