When we have strangled virtue before birth
And evil thoughts are all that we can find
We cannot take a draught of cheerful mirth;
Escape from this black prison in the mind.

When friendship and esteem have been foregone
And lone as buzzards circling are our hearts.
Remembrance of past joys will never come
And soon from us the last love will depart.T

When wickedness draws down our minds to die
And hatred seems to cloud the very sky,
When we don’t watch the winter geese go by
When all we do is moan and weep and sigh

Let’s keep in mind there’s much we have not lost;
Hold well our hearts till this dark grief has passed.