Nor could I ask it otherwise;

For, oh! a sweetness seems to last

Amid the dregs of sorrows past.

It stirred a chord that here of late

I 'd grown to think could not vibrate.

It brought me back the trust of youth,

The world again was joy and truth.

And Avice, blooming like a bride,

Once more stood trusting at my side.

But still, with bosom desolate,