| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XXXIV. Compensation
Tears | | By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | | THANK God, bless God, all ye who suffer not | |
| More grief than ye can weep for. That is well— | |
| That is light grieving! lighter, none befell | |
| Since Adam forfeited the primal lot. | |
| Tears! what are tears? The babe weeps in its cot, | 5 |
| The mother singing,—at her marriage-bell | |
| The bride weeps,—and before the oracle | |
| Of high-faned hills, the poet has forgot | |
| Such moisture on his cheeks. Thank God for grace, | |
| Ye who weep only! If, as some have done, | 10 |
| Ye grope tear-blinded in a desert place | |
| And touch but tombs,—look up! those tears will run | |
| Soon in long rivers down the lifted face, | |
| And leave the vision clear for stars and sun. | | | | |
|
|
