SOLACE IN TEARS
Come, tell me why this sadness now,
When all so glad appears?
One sees it in thine eyes, my friend:
Thou’st surely been in tears.
“And if I go alone and weep,
‘T is grief I can’t impart;
And ‘t is so sweet, when tears will flow,
And ease the heavy heart.”
Thy gladsome friends, they call to thee:
O, come unto our breast!
And whatso’er thy heavy loss,
Confide it to the rest.
“Ye talk and stir, and do not dream
What ‘t is that ails poor me:
Ah, no! ‘t is nothing I have lost,
Though somewhat wanting be.”
Then gather up thy spirits once;
Thy blood is youthsome yet:
To youth like thine there wanteth not
The strength to seek and get.
“Ah, no! to get it, that were vain:
It stands off all too far;
It dwells so high, it shines so fair,
As fair as yonder star.”
The stars we do not seek to have;
We but enjoy their light,
As we look up in ecstasy,
On every pleasant night.
“And I look up in ecstasy,
Full many a lovely day;
So leave me to my mood at night,
To weep while weep I may.”
Translator: John S. Dwight, 1839
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