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V.—LEAVE ME NOT YET.

Leave me not yet—through rosy skies from far,
But now the song-birds to their nests return;

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The quivering image of the first pale star
On the dim lake scarce yet begins to burn:
Leave me not yet!
Not yet!—oh, hark! low tones from hidden streams,
Piercing the shivery leaves, even now arise;
Their voices mingle not with daylight dreams,
They are of vesper's hymns and harmonies:
Leave me not yet!
My thoughts are like those gentle sounds, dear love!
By day shut up in their own still recess,
They wait for dews on earth, for stars above,
Then to breathe out their soul of tenderness:
Leave me not yet!