And cormorants roost there, and the snail addeth its slime,
And efts, with muddy feet, bring their welcome tribute;
And the sea casteth out her dead, wrapped in a shroud of weeds;
And orderly nature arrangeth again the disunited atoms;
Anon, the cold smooth stone is warm with feathery grass,
And the light sporules of the fern are dropt by the passing wind,
The wood-pigeon, on swift wing, leaveth its crop-full of grain,
The squirrel's jealous care planteth the fir-cone and the filbert:
Years pass, and the sterile rock is rank with tangled herbage;
The wild-vine clingeth to the briar, and ivy runneth green among the corn,