Hew Morrison Collection > Minor poems, and translations, in verse

THE TEAR-DROP OF JOY.
THE TEAR-DKOP OF JOY
To weep is not always a token of sorrow,
Nor sadness alone can a tear-drop beguile,
For a moment of bliss from the heart's fount may l^orro^v
A symbol more sacred to joy than a smile.
In grief we may weep for a dear one departed —
In care, when the soothings of hope disappear ;
And mourners, who languish forlorn, broken-hearted.
Have only one balm in their sorrow — a tear !
But the tear-drop of joy has a better emotion.
More tiny in form, and more bright in career ;
It has less of revealing, and more of devotion ;
'Tis a visible thought of what most we revere !
With a smile it is oft sweet companionship keeping, —
Twin-spirits they seem, every ill to destroy.
Dear , if e'er 'tis thy lot to be weeping,
May the tear which thou shed'st be the tear-drop of joy.