And over the haystack’s pointed top,

All of a tremble, and ready to drop,

The first half-hour, the great yellow star

That we with staring, ignorant eyes,

Had often and often watched to see

Propped and held in its place in the skies

By the fork of a tall, red mulberry tree,

Which close in the edge of our flax-field grew,—

Dead at the top—just one branch full

Of leaves, notched round, and lined with wool,