And bright and silvery the willows sleep

Over the shady verge—no mad winds tease

Their hoary heads; but quietly they weep

Their sprinkling leaves—half fountains and half trees:

There lilies be—and fairer than all these,

A solitary Swan her breast of snow

Launches against the wave that seems to freeze

Into a chaste reflection, still below,

Twin-shadow of herself wherever she may go.

And forth she paddles in the very noon