You or I might do the same.

And for judgment's wise completing

(Now the crime was certified),

All were called in solemn meeting

On the sentence to decide.

Much in doubt, they craved assistance,

Sent to convents far away,

Even to that fair blue distance

Where their eyes had loved to stray.

Fathers learnèd, fathers saintly,

Abbots used to think and rule,

Gathered where the brook sang faintly

In the shadow, green and cool.

Oh the beauty that was wasted

On that day, remembered oft!

Oh the sweetness, all untasted,

Of the morning, still and soft!

At their feet the water glistened,

Birds were nesting overhead;

No one saw, and no one listened

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