On and on till the leaf was eaten up,

That April morning. Even then, I praise

Her forethought which prevented leafless stalk

Bestowing any hoarded succulence

On earwig and black-beetle squat beneath;—

Clairvaux, that stalk whereto her hermitage

She tacked by golden throw of silk, so fine,

So anything but feeble, that her sleep

Inside it, through last winter, two years long,

Recked little of the storm and strife without.