Poems (Linn)/Truant Tears
TRUANT TEARS.
TEARS, truant tears, that flow and flow From neither life's great joy nor pain,That rise at sight of sunset glow, Or arch of summer rain.
A tattered flag, a summer rose, Pure, noble thoughts, unselfish fears,Low music heard at evening's close, Have power to bring these tears.
Fair, ruined Athens bade them fall, And Rome's campagna saw them shine;The tales of old-time field and hall Have brought these drops divine.
To all fair things beneath the sky, To all above it, we are kin;Such tears but prove that souls are high, And show us God within.