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GOD'S SINGER.
17
"A thought, a thought is in my heart
Though seldom on the string;
I keep it, round all other thoughts
Its sweetnesses to fling:
Yea! were it not within my soul,
Methinks I could not sing,
Nor ever raise my voice in praise
Of any other thing."

So sang he sweet, so sang he clear, and lift his look above,
They said that listened, "Now he thinks of her, his ladye love;"
But through the wood, where in the calm of summer's noon hung still
And motionless each little leaf, there ran a sudden thrill.

He stood within a Castle's keep,
A Castle that could wear—
Stern looming o'er its rocky steep—
As dark a frown as Care.
Yet now it smiled, as one beguiled
Of ruggedness through sleep,
So sweet a sunshine on from tower
To tower did flash and leap,
And all the summer's noon did swoon
About it, breathing deep.

On coigne and gurgoyle little heads
In carven stone did seem