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LINES WRITTEN FOR THE ALBUM AT ROSANNA,*[1]IN 1829.
Oh! lightly tread through these deep chestnut-bowers,
Where a sweet spirit once in beauty mov'd!
And touch with reverent hand these leaves and flowers,
Fair things, which well a gentle heart hath lov'd!
A gentle heart, of love and grief th' abode,
Whence the bright stream of song in tear-drops flow'd.
And bid its memory sanctify the scene!
And let th' ideal presence of the dead
Float round and touch the woods with softer green,
And o'er the streams a charm, like moonlight, shed;
Through the soul's depths in holy silence felt—
A spell to raise, to chasten, and to melt!
- ↑
* A beautiful place in the County of Wicklow, formerly the abode of the authoress of "Psyche."
