With her sweet voice and proffer’d hand of aid,

Turn’d to give welcome; but a wild sad look

Met hers—a gaze that all her spirit shook;

And that pale woman, suddenly subdued

By some strong passion, in its gushing mood,

Knelt at her feet, and bathed them with such tears

As rain the hoarded agonies of years

From the heart’s urn; and with her white lips press’d

The ground they trod; then, burying in her vest

Her brow’s deep flush, sobb’d out—“O undefiled!