Clasped round her bended knees;

While we on our elbows lolled,

And stared at ease.

Her voice and her narrow chin,

Her grave small lovely head,

Seemed half the meaning

Of the words she said.

[Pg 11]

'Once ... once upon a time ...'

Like a dream you dream in the night,

Fairies and gnomes stole out

In the leaf-green light.

And her beauty far away

Would fade, as her voice ran on,

Till hazel and summer sun

And all were gone:—

All fordone and forgot;

And like clouds in the height of the sky,

Our hearts stood still in the hush

Of an age gone by.

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