A clouded dream on an earthly night
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Hangs upon the crescent moon
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A voiceless song in an ageless light
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Sings at the coming dawn
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Birds in flight are calling there
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Where the heart moves the stones
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It’s there that my heart is longing
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All for the love of you
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A painting hangs on an ivy wall
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Nestled in the emerald moss
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The eyes declare a truce of trust
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Then it draws me far away
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Where deep in the desert twilight
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Sand melts in pools of the sky
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Darkness lays her crimson cloak
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Your lamps will call me home
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And so it’s there my homage’s due
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Clutched by the still of the night
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Now I feel you move
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And every breath is full
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So it’s there my homage’s due
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Clutched by the still of the night
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Even the distance feels so near
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All for the love of you
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A clouded dream on an earthly night
|
Hangs upon the crescent moon
|
A voiceless song in an ageless light
|
Sings at the coming dawn
|
Birds in flight are calling there
|
Where the heart moves the stones
|
It’s there that my heart is longing
|
All for the love of you
|
A farmer there lived in the north country
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a hey ho bonny o
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And he had daughters one, two, three
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The swans swim so bonny o
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These daughters they walked by the river’s brim
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a hey ho bonny o
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The eldest pushed the youngest in
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The swans swim so bonny o
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Oh sister, oh sister, pray lend me your hand
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with a hey ho a bonny o
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And I will give you house and land
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the swans swim so bonny o
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I’ll give you neither hand nor glove
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with a hey ho a bonny o
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Unless you give me your own true love
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the swans swim so bonny o
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Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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Until she came to a miller’s dam
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the swans swim so bonny o
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The miller’s daughter, dressed in red
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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She went for some water to make some bread
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the swans swim so bonny o
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Oh father, oh daddy, here swims a swan
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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It’s very like a gentle woman
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the swans swim so bonny o
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They placed her on the bank to dry
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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There came a harper passing by
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the swans swim so bonny o
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He made harp pins of her fingers fair
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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He made harp strings of her golden hair
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the swans swim so bonny o
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He made a harp of her breast bone
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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And straight it began to play alone
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the swans swim so bonny o
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He brought it to her father’s hall
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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And there was the court, assembled all
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the swans swim so bonny o
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He laid the harp upon a stone
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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And straight it began to play lone
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the swans swim so bonny o
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And there does sit my father the King
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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And yonder sits my mother the Queen
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the swans swim so bonny o
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And there does sit my brother Hugh
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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And by him William, sweet and true
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the swans swim so bonny o
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And there does sit my false sister, Anne
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with a hey ho and a bonny o
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Who drowned me for the sake of a man
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the swans swim so bonny o
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Upon a darkened night
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the flame of love was burning in my breast
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And by a lantern bright
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I fled my house while all in quiet rest
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Shrouded by the night
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and by the secret stair I quickly fled
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The veil concealed my eyes
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while all within lay quiet as the dead
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Oh night thou was my guide
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oh night more loving than the rising sun
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Oh night that joined the lover
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to the beloved one
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transforming each of them into the other
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Upon that misty night
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in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
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Without a guide or light
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than that which burned so deeply in my heart
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That fire t’was led me on
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and shone more bright than of the midday sun
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To where he waited still
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it was a place where no one else could come
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Within my pounding heart
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which kept itself entirely for him
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He fell into his sleep
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beneath the cedars all my love I gave
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And by the fortress walls
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the wind would brush his hair against his brow
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And with its smoothest hand
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caressed my every sense it would allow
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I lost myself to him
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and laid my face upon my lovers breast
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And care and grief grew dim
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as in the mornings mist became the light
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There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
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There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair |
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
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They’re gathered in circles
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the lamps light their faces
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The crescent moon rocks in the sky
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The poets of drumming
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keep heartbeats suspended
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The smoke swirls up and then dies
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Would you like my mask?
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would you like my mirror?
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cries the man in the shadowing hood
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You can look at yourself
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you can look at each other
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or you can look at the face, the face of your god
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The stories are woven
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and fortunes are told
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The truth is measured by the weight of your gold
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The magic lies scattered
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on rugs on the ground
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Faith is conjured in the night market’s sound
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Would you like my mask?
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would you like my mirror?
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cries the man in the shadowing hood
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You can look at yourself
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you can look at each other
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or you can look at the face, the face of your god
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The lessons are written
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on parchments of paper
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They’re carried by horse from the river Nile
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says the shadowy voice
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In the firelight, the cobra
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is casting the flame a winsome smile
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Would you like my mask?
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would you like my mirror?
|
cries the man in the shadowing hood
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You can look at yourself
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you can look at each other
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or you can look at the face, the face of your god
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Stars were falling deep in the darkness
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as prayers rose softly, petals at dawn
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And as I listened, your voice seemed so clear
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so calmly you were calling your god
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Somewhere the sun rose, o’er dunes in the desert
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such was the stillness, I ne’er felt before
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Was this the wuestion, pulling, pulling, pulling you
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in your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?
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Elsewhere a snowfall, the first in the winter
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covered the ground as the bells filled the air
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You in your robes sang, calling, calling, calling him
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in your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?
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in your heart, in your soul, did you find peace there?
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Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,
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The holy tree is growing there;
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From joy the holy branches start,
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And al the trembling flowers they bear.
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The changing colours of its fruit
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Have dowered the stars with merry light;
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The surety of its hidden root
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Has planted quiet in the night;
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The shaking of its leafy head
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Has given the waves their melody,
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And made my lips and music wed,
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Murmuring a wizard song for thee.
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There the Loves a circle go,
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The flaming circle of our days,
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Gyring, spiring to and fro
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In those great ignorant leafy ways;
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Remembering all that shaken hair
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And how the winged sandals dart,
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Thine eyes grow full of tender care;
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Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.
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Gaze no more in the bitter glass
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The demons, with their subtle guile,
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Lift up before us when they pass,
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Or only gaze a little while;
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For there a fatal image grows
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That the stormy night receives,
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Roots half hidden under snows,
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Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
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For all things turn to barenness
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In the dim glass the demons hold,
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The glass of outer weariness,
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Made when God slept in times of old.
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There, through the broken branches, go
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The ravens of unresting thought;
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Flying, crying, to and fro,
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Cruel claw and hungry throat,
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Or else they stand and stiff the wind,
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And shake their ragged wings: alas!
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Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
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Gaze no more in the bitter glass.
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Beloved, gaze in thine own heart
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The holy tree is growing there;
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From joy the holy branches start,
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And all the trembling flowers they bear.
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Remembering all that shaken hair
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And how the winged sandals dart,
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Thine eyes grow full of tender care:
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Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.
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Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
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And what strength I have’s mine own;
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Which is most faint; |
now t’is true,
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I must here be confined by you,
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Or sent to Napels. |
Let me not,
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Since I have my dukedom got
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And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
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In this bar island by your spell;
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But release me from my bands
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With the help of your good hands.
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Gentle breath of yours my sails
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Must fill, or else my project fails,
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Which was to please. |
Now I want
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Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
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And my ending is despair,
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Unless I be relieved by prayer,
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Which pierces so that it assaults
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Mercy itself and frees all faults.
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As you from your crimes would pardon’d be, |
Let your indulgence set me free. |