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Could all the glorious beauty be

Of this most wondrous place by me,

And therefore stay from words’ increase

Thereon, and henceforth hold my peace.

Yet willing to explore each nook

And secret spot, my way I took

Hither and thither, left and right.

The God of Love still kept in sight

My every movement, even as he

Who tracks a quarry carefully

Seeks for the moment when his prey

Doth unawares his life betray.

So, wandering o'er this charmèd ground,

I lastly came to where I found

A fountain ’neath a glorious pine.

Ne’er since great Charles of Pepin’s line

Was born, hath mortal eye e’er scen,

In any garden as I ween,

A pine so tall, straight-grown, and fair.

And in a stone of marble rare,

Had Nature’s hand most deftly made

A fountain ’neath that pine tree’s shade.

And gazing on the side of it,

Beheld I small clear letters writ,

Which said: “Here fair Narcissus lay

And died, in tears dissolved away.”