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For her illuminates and gladdens all.
Soon gorgeous Summer with light tread has passed;
And Autumn, laden with his fruits and sheaves,
Enrobed and garlanded with dying leaves
That dolphin-like grow beautiful in death,
Has hasted by, and seems a vision gone;
Winter with hoary head and frosty breath
Hath let loose all his storms, and the free streams
And yielding earth hath fixed as adamant.
Fled swiftly all; yet, in their passing, rich
In pleasures innocent and duties done;
In memories that, as treasures of the soul,
Shall live unfading down to distant years,
When, in life's twilight dim, quiescent age
Backward shall turn to wander o'er the past.
Then trod again shall be those evening strolls
In the still gloaming, or when climbed the moon,
While nature's kindliest influence softly stole
O'er each fond heart; lived o'er again shall be
Those fireside hours when each by turns or read,
Or eager listened to the thrilling tale,