I was enveloped in black clouds of woe,
Woven o'er my vision by dark-veiled Despair;
I breathed the poison of the midnight air,
And‘ neath its dank oppression wasted low.
I staggered wildly in the gloom at first;
And prayed in anguish that it be removed;
Then cursed the day I saw thee — saw and loved,
And ceased to hope the clouds would be dispersed.
At last that Heavenly Love that rules the night
Removed thine orbit nearer to the earth,
And filled my soul with rapturous delight;
And in the place of that devouring dearth,
When I can see, though distant still, thy light,
Blest Happiness from Hope receives her birth.