Beauty’s miracle under a tree
Supple in mail, and adroit, and whole;
The shaper rid of a shape, and thence
(Growth of an outgrown excellence),
Mounted with infinite might and speed,
Freed like a soul to the heaven it dreamed;
Over life that was, and death that seemed
A victory and a revenge indeed!
As the serpent moves to the open spring,
The while a mock, a delusive thing