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Alfred

An Heroic Poem, in Twenty-Four Books. By Joseph Cottle: 4th ed.

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The interview fast hastens, the delight,
When, after absence, friends rejoicing meet;
Sweeter for perils past. Eager of heart,
Alfred, the cold and intermediate spurns.
For sight he waits not. He already sees,
In fancy's revelations, clear and bright,
Old age, impatient, rising from his seat
To give the greeting—joyance in his eyes—
Four-fold augmented, by the harp's sweet sight,
The precious relic of a son no more!