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."