The Ash Grove + 

Half of the grove stood dead, and those that yet lived made + 

Little more than the dead ones made of shade. + 

If they led to a house, long before they had seen its fall: + 

But they welcomed me; I was glad without cause and delayed. + 

Scarce a hundred paces under the trees was the Interval⁠— + 

Paces each sweeter than sweetest miles⁠—but nothing at all, + 

Not even the spirits of memory and fear with restless wing, + 

Could climb down in to molest me over the wall + 

That I passed through at either end without noticing. + 

And now an ash grove far from those hills can bring + 

The same tranquillity in which I wander a ghost + 

With a ghostly gladness, as if I heard a girl sing + 

The song of the Ash Grove soft as love uncrossed, + 

And then in a crowd or in distance it were lost, + 

But the moment unveiled something unwilling to die + 

And I had what most I desired, without search or desert or cost. + 