The Works of J. W. von Goethe/Volume 9/Sorrow Without Consolation

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

SORROW WITHOUT CONSOLATION.

Oh, wherefore shouldst thou try
The tears of love to dry?
Nay, let them flow!
For didst thou only know,
How barren and how dead
Seems everything below,
To those who have not tears enough to shed,
Thou'dst rather bid them weep, and seek their comfort so.