Enwrapped me, like some sick man made half whole,

And now my grief is only for old sin.

But ah, what boots it? Lo, this barren tree

(He touched a shrub that grew beside the door),

This tree, methinks, shall bud and blossom before

I pass the gates divine, and enter in

To the fair country I must never see.”

But even as he spoke, the hand of God

Worked on the sombre branches, and straightway

They were all green with sap, and bud, and leaf,