Littell's Living Age/Volume 140/Issue 1813/"More Sweet than Smiles"

by Charlotte Elliot

More sweet than smiles are tears which rise unbidden
When some fair scene first dawns upon our eyes,
A gift of joy, by nature long kept hidden,
That thrills us with the rapture of surprise.

But dearer yet and deeper is our feeling
When some fair deed by one we love is wrought,
Some unexpected grace of soul revealing,
The lovely blossom of some secret thought.

Oh! in those moments of divine emotion
The darkening veil of doubt is rent apart;
More near us seems the God of our devotion,
The heaven we hope for dwells within our heart.

Spectator.Lady Charlotte Elliott.