To tell thy secret again,

As a mother her child, in her folding arm

Of a winter night by a flickering fire,

Telleth the same tale o’er and o’er

With gentle voice, and I never tire,

So imperceptibly changeth the charm,

As Love on buried ecstasy buildeth his tower,

—Like as the stem that beareth the flower

By trembling is knit to power;—

Ah! long ago