Yea, sorrow's might all else o'erthrows

The strongest and the worst of foes.

'Tis thus with all: we keenly feel,

Yet bear the blows our foemen deal,

But when a slender woe assails

The manliest spirit bends and quails.

The fifth long night has now begun

Since the wild woods have lodged my son:

To me whose joy is drowned in tears,

Each day a dreary year appears.