"'TIS THE SILENT GRIEF THAT CUTS THE HEART-STRINGS."
The sudden burst of soul-subduing tears
May soothe the saddening memory of years;
The voice of sympathy may wake the heart
To other joys that gild life's brighter part;
The tale of Woe, re-echoed o'er the mind,
Leaves, shade by shade, the weight of grief behind;
By slow degrees deep anguish wears away,
As the dark midnight ere the coming day:—
It is the silent agony of grief
That finds not, feels no shadow of relief;
Consuming the young blossoms of the heart,
And withering hopes that day by day depart.
This, this is misery's hope-destroying might,
And man the victim of its moral blight.
May soothe the saddening memory of years;
The voice of sympathy may wake the heart
To other joys that gild life's brighter part;
The tale of Woe, re-echoed o'er the mind,
Leaves, shade by shade, the weight of grief behind;
By slow degrees deep anguish wears away,
As the dark midnight ere the coming day:—
It is the silent agony of grief
That finds not, feels no shadow of relief;
Consuming the young blossoms of the heart,
And withering hopes that day by day depart.
This, this is misery's hope-destroying might,
And man the victim of its moral blight.
19
