Dear Friend, once, in a dream, I, looking o'er br The Past, saw the Four Seasons slow advance br Dancing, and, dancing, each her cognizance br So gave and took that neither dancer bore br Her sign, but in another's symbol wore br An amulet to lessen or enhance br Herself: till as they fast and faster dance br I see a dance and lose the dancing four. br Thus thy dear Poet, at his sportive will, br Commingling every seasonable mood br Of old and young, and the peculiar ill br Of each still healing with the other's good, br Bends to a circle life's proverbial span br Where childhood, youth, and age are unity in man.