Take strength from strong affection! Let our souls,
Ere this brief parting, mingle in one strain
Of deep, full thanksgiving, for God’s rich boon—
Our perfect love! Oh, blessed have we been
In that high gift! thousands o’er earth may pass,
With hearts unfreshen’d by the heavenly dew,
Which hath kept ours from withering. Kneel, true wife!
And lay thy hands in mine.
(She kneels beside the couch—he prays.)
Oh, thus receive