Art passive, and the world may have her way,

Hide the moraine of immemorial days

With bines and blossoms, so thine unvaried hour

Be not perplexèd with the change of growth.

Within this sombre circle of the hills,

Thy girlish eyes have seen the winter’s close,

And what may lie beyond, where the sun falls,

When the vale fills with rose, and the first star

Looks liquidly, thy quiet heart knows not.

The permanence of beauty haunts thy dreams,