From thence deal forth that gentle charity
So potent coming from a woman’s hand.
Not strange it were if sickness, tended thus,
Enliven’d by her smiles of light, should flush
Or blush to perfect health! if wickedness,
Beneath incrusted woes of years of wrong,
Should feel the earlier faith of childhood waked
By woman’s voice, and thus be born again!—
And find a life renew’d within the soul
As well as body. Let the convent thrive.