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LIFE.
And bearing for her, on his gentle plumes,
All she could ask or crave.

              A few brief years,
And Time's sweet smile was changed to frowns. He crushed
The dewy roses on that young girl's breast,
And in her heart The waving of his wing
Waked a chill blast, from which she shrank away,
Looking in vain for refuge. One by one,
The friends and guardians of her earlier years
Fell at her side; and one by one their graves
Were watered with her bitter tears. She felt
That she was all alone, a wanderer
Upon the desert of the world. Her voice,
So often answered in her happier hours
By tones of love and friendship, now came back,
But with a wailing echo to her sad
And straining ear. All bowed in soul, she pined
In deep and utter solitude. Her hair,
That erst had wantoned on each passing gale
So bright and free, was plainly gathered o'er