“Yes! these were days of peace, but they are past, -

A trial came, I will believe, a last;

I lost my sight, and my employment gone,

Useless I live, but to the day live on;

Those eyes which long the light of heaven enjoy’d,

Were not by pain, by agony destroy’d:

My senses fail not all; I speak, I pray;

By night my rest, my food I take by day;

And, as my mind looks cheerful to my end,

I love mankind, and call my GOD my friend.”