Precious drops ready
Stand in their Crystal Sluice—²
The Waes o’ my heart fa’ in Showers frae my e’e!³
Between the water of the Tears and the water of
The Sea, there is only a slight difference, if—
In that Difference—all of man perhaps …⁴
Dost thou Drink tears, that
Thou provokest such Weeping?⁵
When you’re a Poet you can cry for everything—
We Cry like poets for Everything we see—⁶
Bid us to weep, and we will Weep
While we have eyes to see—
And, having none, yet will we keep
A Heart to weep for thee—⁷
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity!⁸
The Child’s Sob in the silence Curses
Deeper than the strong man in his wrath.⁹
We Cry that Clouds might carry our Tears …¹⁰
¹ Algernon Charles Swinburne, Ave Atque Vale
² John Milton, Paradise Lost
³ Lady Anne Lindsay, Auld Robin Gray
⁴ Francis Ponge tr. Beth Archer, The Water of Tears
⁵ William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
⁶ V.S. Naipaul, Miguel Street
⁷ Robert Herrick, To Anthea, Who May Command Him Anything
⁸ William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
⁹ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Cry of the Children
¹⁰ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Akash & Forché, I Belong There