———

I saw Alethe—she was young and fair:

A rose-bud op’ning to the balmy spring;

And as she knelt in holy, fervent prayer,

Her youthful heart to God surrendering,

The music of her voice in murmurs low,

Sounded like tones of sweetest melody,

Half-waking heard—or like the silver flow

Of some lone woodland stream—she seem’d to be

A type of perfect beauty—Heav’nly symmetry.