Swelling out on the night in a peaceful strain.
They sang a farewell to the dying year,
And the far faint tones of an organ fell
With a soothing cadence upon my ear,
And I slept at last in my loathsome cell.
My body slept with its clanking chain,
But the prison walls fled far away,
And my spirit, glad and free again,
Went forth as upon its bridal day.
I never had thought again to sing,