The Empire Of Woman 4: The Wife Poem by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

The Daughter from her father's bosom goes-
The Sister drops her brother's clasping hand-
For God himself ordained a holier band
Than kindred blood on human minds bestows:
That stronger, deeper, dearer tie she knows,
The heart-wed Wife; as heaven by rainbow spanned,
Thus bright with hope life's path before her glows-
Proves it like mirage on the desert's sand?
Still in her soul the light divine remains-
And if her husband's strength be overborne
By sorrow, sickness, or the felon's chains,-
Such as by England's noblest son* were worn,-
Unheeding how her own poor heart is torn,
She, angel-like, his sinking soul sustains.