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IF I could come again to that dear place
Where once I came, where Beauty lived and moved,
Where, by the sea, I saw her face to face
That soul alive by which the world has loved;
If, as I stood at gaze among the leaves,
She would appear again as once before
While the red herdsman gathered up his sheaves
And brimming waters trembled up the shore;
If, as I gazed, her Beauty that was dumb,
In that old time, before I learned to speak,
Would lean to me and revelation come,
Words to the lips and color to the cheek,
Joy with its searing-iron would burn me wise
I should know all, all powers, all mysteries.
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