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63

TO A SISTER IN AFFLICTION.
Dear Sister, grief and sorrows are
Inwoven with our frame;
No human heart is free from care,
Nor misery's cruel claim.

One only sovereign, healing balm,
Upon life's bitter grief,
Flows from a never-dying source,
With safe and sure relief.

Where calm content and peace serene
In rich exuberance flow,
Celestial joys successive rise,
And banish every woe.

A noble pleasure glows supreme
O'er all the ills of life;
The aching heart no more complains,
And troubles cease their strife.

Could we, Maria, banish grief,
And raise our thoughts above,
Consider these afflictions here,
As chastisements of love,—