Page:A lover's tale (Tennyson, 1879).djvu/13

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THE LOVER'S TALE.
9
Permit me, friend, I prythee,

To pass my hand across my brows, and muse
On those dear hills, that never more will meet
The sight that throbs and aches beneath my touch,
As tho' there beat a heart in either eye;
For when the outer lights are darkened thus,
The memory's vision hath a keener edge.
It grows upon me now — the semicircle
Of dark-blue waters and the narrow fringe
Of curving beach — its wreaths of dripping green—
Its pale pink shells — the summerhouse aloft
That open'd on the pines with doors of glass,
A mountain nest — the pleasure-boat that rock'd.
Light-green with its own shadow, keel to keel,
Upon the dappled dimplings of the wave,

That blanch'd upon its side.