A Reed by the River/The Greater Loss

by Virginia Woodward Cloud

THE GREATER LOSS

One spoke with tears: "Grief stripped me of the best,
 For on my lips smiles are forever dead,
My heart is but an empty, songless nest—
 Laughter is fled."

One spoke and smiled: "Grief robbed of all, for I,
 Facing the lonely desert of my years,
Shudder to find its one spring hath gone dry—
 I have no tears."