Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/402

 IN MEMORIAM

OLIVIA SUSAN CLEMENS

IN a fair valley oh, how long ago, how long ago! Where all the broad expanse was clothed in vines And fruitful fields and meadows starred with flowers, And clear streams wandered at their idle will, And still lakes slept, their burnished surfaces A dream of painted clouds, and soft airs Went whispering with odorous breath, And all was peace in that fair vale, Shut from the troubled world, a nameless hamlet drowsed.

Hard by, apart, a temple stood; And strangers from the outer world Passing, noted it with tired eyes, And seeing, saw it not : A glimpse of its fair form an answering momentary

thrill- And they passed on, careless and unaware.

They could not know the cunning of its make; They could not know the secret shut up in its heart ; Only the dwellers of the hamlet knew:

knew that what seemed brass was gold;

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