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FORTUNATE LOVE: 2. ELATION by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE

First Line: LIKE TO SOME DREAMING AND UNWORLDLY CHILD
Last Line: THE STATELY AIR WITH WHICH HIS FOOTSTEPS MOVE.

LIKE to some dreaming and unworldly child
Who sits at sunset in the mist of hope,
When all the windows of the west lie ope,
Flooding the air with splendour undefiled,
And sees, by fancy in a trance beguiled,
An angel mount the perilous burning slope,
Winning the opal and the sapphire cope,
And laughs for very joy and yearning wild; --
So I, in whose awakening spirit Love
Rules uninvited, not to be controlled,
Am happiest when I struggle not, but hold
My windows open and my heart above,
Watching, with soul not bowed nor overbold,
The stately air with which his footsteps move.



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