How beautiful thou art! The world how deep! How tremulous-dazzlingly the wheels sweep Around their axle! Then these gleaming reins, How lithe! When this thy chariot attains Its airy goal, haply some bower veils
Will be its high remembrancers: who they? The mighty ones who have made eternal day For Greece and England. While astonishment With deep-drawn sighs was quieting, he went Into a marble gallery, passing through
Those twilight eyes? Thos eyes!-my spirit fails- A mimic temple, so complete and true Dear goddess, help! or the wide-gaping air
Will gulf me-help!"-At this, with madden'd stare, And lifted hands, and trembling lips, he stood; Like old Deucalion mountain'd o'er the flood, Or blind Orion hungry for the morn.
And, but from the deep cavern there was borne A voice, he had been froze to senseless stone; Nor sigh of his, nor plaint, nor passion'd moan Had more been heard. Thus swell'd it forth: "De- scend,
Young mountaineer! descend where alleys bend Into the sparry hollows of the world!
Oft hast thou seen bolts of the thunder hurl'd As from thy threshold; day by day hast been A little lower than the chilly sheen Of icy pinnacles, and dipp'dst thine arms Into the deadening ether that still charms Their marble being: now, as deep profound
As those are high, descend! He ne'er is crown'd With immortality, who fears to follow Where airy voices lead: so through the hollow, The silent mysteries of earth, descend!"
He heard but the last words, nor could contend
One moment in reflection: for he fled Into the fearful deep, to hide his head
From the clear moon, the trees, and coming madness.
In sacred custom, that he well-nigh fear'd To search it inwards; whence far off appear'd, Through a long pillar'd vista, a fan shrine, And, just beyond, on light tiptoe divine, A quiver'd Dian. Stepping awfully, The youth approach'd; oft turning his veil'd ese Down sidelong aisles, and into niches old: And, when more near against the marble cold He had touch'd his forehead, he began to thread All courts and passages, where silence dead, Roused by his whispering footsteps, murmur'd faint: And long he traversed to and fro, to acquaint Himself with every mystery, and awe; Till, weary, he sat down before the maw Of a wide outlet, fathomless and dim,
To wild uncertainty and shadows grim.
There, when new wonders ceased to float before, And thoughts of self came on, how crude and sore The journey homeward to habitual self!
A mad-pursuing of the fog-born elf,
Whose flitting lantern, through rude nettle-ber. Cheats us into a swamp, into a fire,
Into the bosom of a hated thing.
What misery most drowningly doth sing In lone Endymion's ear, now he has caught
The deadly feel of solitude: for, lo! He cannot see the heavens, nor the flow Of rivers. nor hill-flowers running wild In pink and purple chequer, nor up-piled, The cloudy rack slow journeying in the west, Like herded elephants; nor felt, nor prest Cool grass, nor tasted the fresh slumberous air; But far from such companionship to wear An unknown time, surcharged with grief, away, Was now his lot. And must he patient stay,
"T was far too strange, and wonderful for sadness; The goal of consciousness? Ah, 'tis the thought Sharpening, by degrees, his appetite To dive into the deepest. Dark, nor light, The region; nor bright, nor sombre wholly, But mingled up; a gleaming melancholy; A dusky empire and its diadems; One faint eternal eventide of gems. Ay, millions sparkled on a vein of gold, Along whose track the prince quick footsteps told, With all its lines abrupt and angular: Out-shooting sometimes, like a meteor-star, Through a vast antre; then the metal woof,
Like Vulcan's rainbow, with some monstrous roof Curves hugely now, far in the deep abyss, It seems an angry lightning, and doth hiss Fancy into belief: anon it leads Through winding passages, where sameness breeds Vexing conceptions of some sudden change; Whether to silver grots, or giant range Of sapphire columns, or fantastic bridge Athwart a flood of crystal. On a ridge Now fareth he, that o'er the vast beneath Towers like an ocean-cliff, and whence he seeth A hundred waterfalls, whose voices come But as the murmuring surge. Chilly and numb His bosom grew, when first he, far away, Descried an orbed diamond, set to fray
Old Darkness from his throne: 'twas like the sun Uprisen o'er chaos: and with such a stun Came the amazement, that, absorb'd in it, He saw not fiercer wonders-past the wit Of any spirit to tell, but one of those
Who, when this planet's sphering time doth close,
Tracing fantastic figures with his spear?
No!" exclaimed he, " Why should I tarry here! No! loudly echoed times innumerable.
At which he straightway started, and 'gan tell His paces back into the temple's chief; Warming and glowing strong in the belief Of help from Dian: so that when again He caught her airy form, thus did he plain, Moving more near the while. "O Haunter chaste Of river sides, and woods, and heathy waste, Where with thy silver bow and arrows keen Art thou now forested? O woodland Queen, What smoothest air thy smoother forehead wooes? Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos Of thy disparted nymphs? Through what dark tree Glimmers thy crescent? Wheresoe'er it be, "Tis in the breath of heaven: thou dost taste Freedom as none can taste it, nor dost waste Thy loveliness in dismal elements;
But, finding in our green earth sweet contents, There livest blissfully. Ah, if to thee It feels Elysian, how rich to me,
An exiled mortal, sounds its pleasant name! Within my breast there lives a choking flame- O let me cool it among the zephyr-boughs; A homeward fever parches up my tongue- O let me slake it at the running springs! Upon my ear a noisy nothing rings-
O let me once more hear the linnet's note! Before mine eyes thick films and shadows float- O let me 'noint them with the heaven's light! Dost thou now lave thy feet and ankles white? O think how sweet to me the freshening sluice! Dost thou now please thy thirst with berry-juice?, O think how this dry palate would rejoice! If in soft slumber thou dost hear my voice, O think how I should love a bed of flowers!- Young goddess! let me see my native bowers! Deliver me from this rapacious deep!"
Thus ending loudly, as he would o'erleap His destiny, alert he stood: but when Obstinate silence came heavily again, Feeling about for its old couch of space And airy cradle, lowly bow'd his face, Desponding, o'er the marble floor's cold thrill. But 't was not long; for, sweeter than the rill To its old channel, or a swollen tide
To margin sallows, were the leaves he spied, And flowers, and wreaths, and ready myrtle crowns Up peeping through the slab: refreshment drowns Itself, and strives its own delights to hide- Nor in one spot alone; the floral pride In a long whispering birth enchanted grew Before his footsteps; as when heaved anew Old ocean rolls a lengthen'd wave to the shore, Down whose green back the shortlived foam, all hoar, Bursts gradual, with a wayward indolence.
Increasing still in heart, and pleasant sense, Upon his fairy journey on he hastes; So anxious for the end, he scarcely wastes One moment with his hands among the sweets: Onward he goes-he stops-his bosom beats As plainly in his ear, as the faint charm
Of which the throbs were born. This still alarm, This sleepy music, forced him walk tiptoe: For it came more softly than the east could blow Arion's magic to the Atlantic isles;
Or than the west, made jealous by the smiles Of throned Apollo, could breathe back the lyre To seas Ionian and Tyrian.
O did he ever live, that lonely man, Who loved-and music slew not? "Tis the pest Of love, that fairest joys give most unrest; That things of delicate and tenderest worth Are swallow'd all, and made a seared dearth, By one consuming flame: it doth immerse And suffocate true blessings in a curse. Half-happy, by comparison of bliss,
Is miserable. 'Twas even so with this Dew-dropping inelody, in the Carian's ear; First heaven, then hell, and then forgotten clear, Vanish'd in elemental passion.
And down some swart abysm he had gone, Had not a heavenly guide benignant led To where thick myrtle branches, 'gainst his head
Brushing, awaken'd: then the sounds again Went noiseless as a passing noontide rain Over a bower, where little space he stood; For as the sunset peeps into a wood,
So saw he panting light and towards it went Through winding alleys; and lo, wonderment Upon soft verdure saw, one here, one there Cupids a slumbering on their pinions fair.
After a thousand mazes overgone, At last, with sudden step, he came upon A chamber, myrtle-wall'd, embower'd high, Full of light, incense, tender minstrelsy, And more of beautiful and strange beside: For on a silken couch of rosy pride, In midst of all, there lay a sleeping youth Of fondest beauty; fonder, in fair sooth, Than sighs could fathom, or contentment reach · And coverlids gold-tinted like the peach, Or ripe October's faded marigolds,
Fell sleek about him in a thousand folds- Not hiding up an Apollonian curve
Of neck and shoulder, nor the tenting swerve Of knee from knee, nor ankles pointing light; But rather, giving them to the fill'd sight Officiously. Sideway his face reposed On one white arm, and tenderly unclosed, By tenderest pressure, a faint damask mouth To slumbery pout; just as the morning south Disparts a dew-lipp'd rose. Above his head, Four lily stalks did their white honors wed To make a coronal; and round him grew All tendrils green, of every bloom and hue, Together intertwined and tramell'd fresh : The vine of glossy sprout; the ivy mesh, Shading its Ethiop berries; and woodbine, Of velvet leaves and bugle-blooms divine; Convolvulus in streaked vases flush; The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush; And virgin's bower, trailing airily; With others of the sisterhood. Hard by, Stood serene Cupids watching silently. One, kneeling to a lyre, touched the strings, Muffling to death the pathos with his wings; And, ever and anon, uprose to look
At the youth's slumber; while another took A willow bough, distilling odorous dew, And shook it on his hair; another flew In through the woven roof, and fluttering-wise Rain'd violets upon his sleeping eyes.
At these enchantments, and yet many more The breathless Latmian wonder'd o'er and o'er, Until impatient in embarrassment,
He forthright pass'd, and lightly treading went To that same feather'd lyrist, who straightway, Smiling, thus whisper'd: "Though from upper day Thou art a wanderer, and thy presence here Might seem unholy, be of happy cheer! For 'tis the nicest touch of human honor, When some ethereal and high-favoring donor Presents immortal bowers to mortal sense; As now 'tis done to thee, Endymion. Hence Was I in nowise startled. So recline Upon these living flowers. Here is wine,
Alive with sparkles-never, I aver, Since Ariadne was a vintager,
So cool a purple: taste these juicy pears, Sent me by sad Vertumnus, when his fears Were high about Pomona: here is cream, Deepening to richness from a snowy gleam; Sweeter than that nurse Amalthea skimm'd For the boy Jupiter: and here, undimm'd By any touch, a bunch of blooming plums Ready to melt between an infant's gums: And here is manna pick'd from Syrian trees, In starlight, by the three Hesperides. Feast on, and meanwhile I will let thee know Of all these things around us.' He did so,
Still brooding o'er the cadence of his lyre; And thus: "I need not any hearing tire By telling how the sea-born goddess pined For a mortal youth, and how she strove to bind Him all in all unto her doting self.
Who would not be so prison'd? but, fond elf, He was content to let her amorous plea Faint through his careless arms; content to see An unseized heaven dying at his feet; Content, O fool! to make a cold retreat, When on the pleasant grass such love, lovelorn, Lay sorrowing; when every tear was born Of diverse passion; when her lips and eyes Were closed in sullen moisture, and quick sighs Came vex'd and pettish through her nostrils small. Hush! no exclaim-yet, justly mightst thou call Curses upon his head.-I was half glad, But my poor mistress went distract and mad, When the Doar tusk'd him: so away she flew To Jove's high throne, and by her plainings drew Immortal tear-drops down the thunderer's beard; Whereon, it was decreed he should be rear'd Each summer-time to life. Lo! this is he, That same Adonis, safe in the privacy Of this still region all his winter-sleep.
Ay, sleep; for when our love-sick queen did weep Over his waned corse, the tremulous shower Heal'd up the wound, and, with a balmy power, Medicined death to a lengthen'd drowsiness: The which she fills with visions, and doth dress In all this quiet luxury; and hath set Us young immortals, without any let,
Rubbing their sleepy eyes with lazy wrists, And doubling overhead their little fists In backward yawns. But all were soon alive: For as delicious wine doth, sparkling, dive In nectar'd clouds and curls through water fair, So from the arbor roof down swell'd an air Odorous and enlivening; making all
To laugh, and play, and sing, and loudly call For their sweet queen: when lo! the wreathed green Disparted, and far upward could be seen
Blue heaven, and a silver car, air-borne. Whose silent wheels, fresh wet from clouds of morn, Spun off a drizzling dew.-which falling chill On soft Adonis' shoulders, made him still Nestle and turn uneasily about.
Soon were the white doves plain, with necks stretch'd
And silken traces lighten'd in descent; And soon, returning from love's banishmert, Queen Venus leaning downward open-arm'd : Her shadow fell upon his breast, and charm'd A tumult to his heart, and a new life Into his eyes. Ah, miserable strife, But for her comforting! unhappy sight,
But meeting her blue orbs! Who, who can write Of these first minutes? The unchariest muse To embracements warm as theirs makes coy excuse.
O it has ruffled every spirit there, Saving Love's self, who stands superb to share The general gladness: awfully he stands; A sovereign quell is in his waving hands, No sight can bear the lightning of his bow; His quiver is mysterious, none can know What themselves think of it; from forth his eyes There darts strange light of varied hues and dyes: A scowl is sometimes on his brow, but who Look full upon it feel anon the blue
Of his fair eyes run liquid through their souls. Endymion feels it, and no more controls The burning prayer within him; so, bent low, He had begun a plaining of his woe. But Venus, bending forward, said: "My child, Favor this gentle youth; his days are wild With love-he-but alas! too well I see Thou know'st the deepness of his misery.
To watch his slumber through: "Tis well-nigh pass'd, Ah, smile not so, my son: I tell thee true, Even to a moment's filling up, and fast
She scuds with summer breezes, to pant through The first long kiss, warm firstling, to renew Embower'd sports in Cytherea's isle. Look, how those winged listeners all this while Stand anxious: see! behold!"-This clamant word Broke through the careful silence; for they heard A rustling noise of leaves, and out there flutter'd Pigeons and doves: Adonis something mutter'd, The while one hand, that erst upon his thigh Lay dormant, moved convulsed and gradually Up to his forehead. Then there was a hum Of sudden voices, echoing, "Come! come! Arise! awake! Clear summer has forth walk'd Unto the clover-sward, and she has talk'd Full soothingly to every nested finch: Rise, Cupids! or we'll give the bluebell pinch To your dimpled arms. Once more sweet life begin!" At this, from every side they hurried in,
That when through heavy hours I used to rue The endless sleep of this new-born Adon', This stranger aye I pitied. For upon A dreary morning once I fled away Into the breezy clouds, to weep and pray For this my love: for vexing Mars had teased Me even to tears: thence, when a little eased. Down-looking, vacant, through a hazy wood. I saw this youth as he despairing stood: Those same dark curls blown vagrant in the wind, Those same full fringed lids a constant blind Over his sullen eyes: I saw him throw Himself on wither'd leaves, even as though Death had come sudden; for no jot he moved, Yet mutter'd wildly. I could hear he loved Some fair immortal, and that his embrace
Had zoned her through the night. There is no trace Of this in heaven: I have mark'd each check, And find it is the vainest thing to seek;
And that of all things 'tis kept secretest. Endymion! one day thou wilt be blest: So still obey the guiding hand that fends Thee safely through these wonders for sweet ends. Tis a concealment needful in extreme; And if I guess'd not so, the sunny beam
Thou shouldst mount up to with me. Now adieu! Here must we leave thee."-At these words up flew The impatient doves, up rose the floating ear, Up went the hum celestial. High afar The Latmian saw them minish into naught; And, when all were clear vanish'd, still he caught A vivid lightning from that dreadful bow. When all was darken'd, with Etnean throe The earth closed-gave a solitary moan- And left him once again in twilight lone.
He did not rave, he did not stare aghast, For all those visions were o'ergone, and past, And he in loneliness: he felt assured Of happy times, when all he had endured Would seem a feather to the mighty prize. So, with unusual gladness, on he hies Through caves, and palaces of mottled ore, Gold dome, and crystal wall, and turquoise floor, Black polish'd porticoes of awful shade, And, at the last, a diamond balustrade, Leading afar past wild magnificence, Spiral through ruggedest loop-holes, and thence Stretching across a void, then guiding o'er Enormous chasms, where, all foam and roar, Streams subterranean tease their granite beds; Then heighten'd just above the silvery heads Of a thousand fountains, so that he could dash The waters with his spear; but at the splash, Done heedlessly, those spouting columns rose Sudden a poplar's height, and 'gan to inclose His diamond path with fretwork streaming round Alive, and dazzling cool, and with a sound, Haply, like dolphin tumults, when sweet shells Welcome the float of Thetis. Long he dwells On this delight; for, every minute's space, The streams with changed magic interlace: Sometimes like delicatest lattices,
Cover'd with crystal vines; then weeping trees, Moving about as in a gentle wind, Which, in a wink, to watery gauze refined, Pour'd into shapes of curtain'd canopies, Spangled, and rich with liquid broideries Of flowers, peacocks, swans, and naiads fair. Swifter than lightning went these wonders rare; And then the water, into stubborn streams Collecting, mimick'd the wrought oaken beams, Pillars, and frieze, and high fantastic roof, Of those dusk places in times far aloof Cathedrals call'd. He bade a loth farewell To these founts Protean, passing gulf, and dell, And torrent, and ten thousand jutting shapes, Half-seen through deepest gloom, and grisly gapes, Blackening on every side, and overhead
A vaulted dome like Heaven's, far bespread With starlight gems: aye, all so huge and strange, The solitary felt a hurried change Working within him into something dreary,- Vex'd like a morning eagle, lost, and weary,
And purblind amid foggy midnight wolds. But he revives at once: for who beholds New sudden things, nor casts his mental slough! Forth from a rugged arch, in the dusk below, Came mother Cybele! alone-alone- In sombre chariot; dark foldings thrown About her majesty, and front death-pale, With turrets crown'd. Four maned lions hale The sluggish wheels; solemn their toothed maws Their surly eyes brow-hidden, heavy paws Uplifted drowsily, and nervy tails Cowering their tawny brushes. Silent sails This shadowy queen athwart, and faints away In another gloomy arch.
Young traveller, in such a mournful place? Art thou wayworn, or canst not further trace The diamond path? And does it indeed end Abrupt in middle air? Yet earthward bend Thy forehead, and to Jupiter cloud-borne Call ardently! He was indeed way worn; Abrupt, in middle air, his way was lost; To cloud-borne Jove he bowed, and there crost Towards him a large eagle, 't wixt whose wings Without one impious word, himself he flings, Committed to the darkness and the gloom: Down, down, uncertain to what pleasant doom, Swift as a fathoming plummet down he fell Through unknown things; till exhaled asphodel, And rose, with spicy fannings interbreathed, Came swelling forth where little caves were wreathed So thick with leaves and mosses, that they seem'd Large honeycombs of green, and freshly teem'd With airs delicious. In the greenest nook The eagle landed him, and farewell took.
It was a jasmine bower, all bestrown With golden moss. His every sense had grown Ethereal for pleasure; 'bove his head Flew a delight half-graspable; his tread Was Hesperean; to his capable cars Silence was music from the holy spheres; A dewy luxury was in his eyes;
The little flowers felt his pleasant sighs And stirr'd them faintly. Verdant cave and cell He wander'd through, oft wondering at such swell Of sudden exaltation: but, "Alas!" Said he, "will all this gush of feeling pass Away in solitude? And must they wane, Like melodies upon a sandy plain, Without an echo? Then shall I be left So sad, so melancholy, so bereft !
Yet still I feel immortal! O my love, My breath of life, where art thou? High above. Dancing before the morning gates of heaven? Or keeping watch among those starry seven, Old Atlas' children? Art a maid of the waters, One of shell-winding Triton's bright-hair'd daughter Or art, impossible! a nymph of Dian's, Weaving a coronal of tender scions For very idleness? Where'er thou art, Methinks it now is at my will to start Into thine arms; to scare Aurora's train, And snatch thee from the morning; o'er the main
To scud like a wild bird, and take thee off From thy sea-foamy cradle; or to doff
Endymion! dearest! Ah, unhappy me! His soul will 'scape us-O felicity!
Thy shepherd vest, and woo thee 'mid fresh leaves. How he does love me! His poor temples beat No, no, too eagerly my soul deceives Its powerless self: I know this cannot be. O let me then by some sweet dreaming flee To her entrancements: hither sleep awhile! Hither most gentle sleep! and soothing foil For some few hours the coming solitude."
Thus spake he, and that moment felt endued With power to dream deliciously; so wound Through a dim passage, searching till he found The smoothest mossy bed and deepest, where
He threw himself, and just into the air
Stretching his indolent arms, he took, O bliss!
A naked waist: "Fair Cupid, whence is this?" A well-known voice sigh'd, "Sweetest, here am I!" At which soft ravishment, with doting cry They trembled to each other.-Helicon! O fountain'd hill! Old Homer's Helicon! That thou wouldst spout a little streamlet o'er These sorry pages; then the verse would soar And sing above this gentle pair, like lark Over his nested young: but all is dark Around thine aged top, and thy clear fount Exhales in mists to Heaven. Ay, the count Of mighty Poets is made up; the scroll Is folded by the Muses; the bright roll Is in Apollo's hand: our dazed eyes Have seen a new tinge in the western skies: The world has done its duty. Yet, oh yet, Although the sun of poesy is set,
These lovers did embrace, and we must weep That there is no old power left to steep A quill immortal in their joyous tears. Long time in silence did their anxious fears Question that thus it was; long time they lay Fondling and kissing every doubt away; Long time ere soft caressing sobs began To mellow into words, and then there ran Two bubbling springs of talk from their sweet lips. "O known Unknown! from whom my being sips Such darling essence, wherefore may I not Be ever in these arms? in this sweet spot Pillow my chin for ever? ever press
These toying hands and kiss their smooth excess? Why not for ever and for ever feel
That breath about my eyes? Ah, thou wilt steal Away from me again, indeed, indeed— Thou wilt be gone away, and wilt not heed My lonely madness. Speak, my kindest fair! Is-is it to be so? No! Who will dare
To pluck thee from me? And, of thine own will, Full well I feel thou wouldst not leave me. Still Let me entwine thee surer, surer-now How can we part? Elysium! who art thou? Who, that thou canst not be for ever here, Or lift me with thee to some starry sphere? Enchantress! tell me by this soft embrace, By the most soft complexion of thy face, Those lips, O slippery blisses! twinkling eyes, And by these tenderest, milky sovereignties-- These tenderest, and by the nectar-wine, The passion"- O loved Ida the divine!
To the very tune of love-how sweet, sweet, sweet! Revive, dear youth, or I shall faint and die; Revive, or these soft hours will hurry by In tranced dullness; speak, and let that spell Affright this lethargy! I cannot quell Its heavy pressure, and will press at least My lips to thine, that they may richly feast Until we taste the life of love again. What! dost thou move? dost kiss? O bliss! O pain I love thee, youth, more than I can conceive; And so long absence from thee doth bereave My soul of any rest: yet must I hence : Yet, can I not to starry eminence Uplift thee; nor for very shame can own Myself to thee. Ah, dearest! do not groan, Or thou wilt force me from this secrecy, And I must blush in heaven. O that I Had done it already! that the dreadful smiles At my lost brightness, my impassion'd wiles, Had waned from Olympus' solemn height, And from all serious Gods; that our delight Was quite forgotten, save of us alone! And wherefore so ashamed? "Tis but to atone For endless pleasure, by some coward blushes: Yet must I be a coward! Horror rushes Too palpable before me-the sad look Of Jove-Minerva's start-no bosom shook With awe of purity-no Cupid pinion
In reverence veil'd-my crystalline dominion Half lost, and all old hymns made nullity! But what is this to love? Oh! I could fly With thee into the ken of heavenly powers, So thou wouldst thus, for many sequent hours, Press me so sweetly. Now I swear at once That I am wise, that Pallas is a dunce- Perhaps her love like mine is but unknown- Oh! I do think that I have been alone In chastity! yes, Pallas has been sighing, While every eve saw me my hair uptying With fingers cool as aspen leaves. Sweet love! I was as vague as solitary dove,
Nor knew that nests were built. Now a soft kiss-- Ay, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss, An immortality of passion's thine: Ere long I will exalt thee to the shine Of heaven ambrosial; and we will shade Ourselves whole summers by a river glade; And I will tell thee stories of the sky, And breathe thee whispers of its minstrelsy, My happy love will overwing all bounds! O let me melt into thee! let the sounds Of our close voices marry at their birth; Let us entwine hoveringly!-O dearth Of human words! roughness of mortal speech! Lispings empyrean will I sometimes teach Thine honey'd tongue-lute-breathings, which I gasp To have thee understand, now while I clasp Thee thus, and weep for fondness-I am pain'd, Endymion: woe! woe! is grief contain'd In the very deeps of pleasure, my sole life?"- Hereat, with many sobs, her gentle strife Melted into a languor. He return'd Entranced vows and tears.
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