Minor Poems, including Napoleon | ||
276
SMILES AND TEARS.
I
Speechless interpreters of thought,And feeling's hidden dower;
With eloquence resistless fraught,
How touching is your power!
II
In Joy's ecstatic mood, what toneTo gladness can beguile,
With fascination of its own,
Like rapture's silent smile?
III
In anguish — what can more revealThan all that meets the ear?
What but the eloquent appeal
Of Sorrow's silent tear!
277
IV
In Love, — to those who truly knowWhat smiles and tears can say,
More of the hidden heart they show
Than language can convey.
V
And in that purer element,Ethereal and divine,
Which thought and feeling represent
As Worship's purest shrine;
VI
Far far beyond the influenceThat rhetoric most reveres,
The spirit's holier eloquence
Of silent smiles and tears.
VII
The patient suff'rer's smile, when bornOf Faith, to God is dear;
Nor will His mercy ever scorn
Contrition's voiceless tear!
Minor Poems, including Napoleon | ||