And ere th’ appointed day returns?”

With falt’ring voice Columbo cry’d,

“From thee no more my heart I hide—

Scarce from this peaceful grove I past

When sudden clouds the skies o’ercast;

I saw the storm, for shelter sought,

A single tree that shelter brought,

Thin leav’d, and pervious to the show’r,

I felt the rig’rous season’s power.

The cloud dissolv’d, benumb’d with cold,