Page:Elegia scritta in un cimitero campestre.djvu/8

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VIII

ELEGY

WRITTEN

IN A

COUNTRY CHURCH - YARD.

THe curfew tolls the knell of parting day;
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea;
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

4
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

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And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;


Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r,
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,

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Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Be-