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8
ISABEL.
The mellowed reflex of a wintermoon—
A clear stream flowing with a muddy one,
Till in its onward current it absorbs
With swifter movement and in purer light
The vexéd eddies of its wayward brother—
A leaning and upbearing parasite,
Clothing the stem, which else had fallen quite,
With clustered flowerbells and ambrosial orbs
Of rich fruitbunches leaning on each other—
Shadow forth thee:—the world hath not another
(Though all her fairest forms are types of thee,
And thou of God in thy great charity),
Of such a finished chastened purity.
A clear stream flowing with a muddy one,
Till in its onward current it absorbs
With swifter movement and in purer light
The vexéd eddies of its wayward brother—
A leaning and upbearing parasite,
Clothing the stem, which else had fallen quite,
With clustered flowerbells and ambrosial orbs
Of rich fruitbunches leaning on each other—
Shadow forth thee:—the world hath not another
(Though all her fairest forms are types of thee,
And thou of God in thy great charity),
Of such a finished chastened purity.
