THE USE OF TEARS.

Be not thy tears too harshly child;
Repine not at the rising sigh;
Who, if they might, would always bid
The breast be still, the cheek be dry?

How little of ourselves we know
Before a grief the heart has felt!
The lessons that we learn of woe
May brace the mind, as well as melt.

The energies too stern for mirth,
The reach of thought, the strength of will,
‘Mid cloud and tempest have their birth –
Through blight and blast their course fulfil.

Love’s perfect triumph never crown’d
The hope uncheck’d by a pang;
The gaudiest wreaths with thorns are bound;
And Sappho wept beware she sang.

Tears at each pure revelation flow;
They wait on Pity’s gentle claim –
On Admiration’s fervid glow –
On piety’s Seraphinian.

‘Tis only when it mourns and fears
The loaded spirit feels forgiven;
And through the mist of falling tears
We catch the clearest glimpse of Heaven.

Earl O