And blight the blooms that made them fair.

Cheerless we scan the wastes of white

Which seem of Hope the high-heaped grave,

Nor guess that hidden far from sight

Lie germs of joy, secure and brave;

And that, when comes God’s blessed spring,

(As surely it shall come at last

To every grieved and patient thing!)

And all the winter-time is past,—

And the snow melts, and hands unseen