Isabella, or the Pot of Basil - XLII

"Ha! ha!" said she, "I knew not this hard life,

I thought the worst was simple misery;

I thought some Fate with pleasure or with strife

Portion'd us - happy days, or else to die;

But there is crime - a brother's bloody knife!

Sweet Spirit, thou hast school'd my infancy:

I'll visit thee for this, and kiss thine eyes,

And greet thee morn and even in the skies."