Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VI. Fancy. 1904. | | | | Poems of Sentiment: II. Life | | A Tear | | Samuel Rogers (1763–1855) |
| | | O THAT the chemist’s magic art | |
| Could crystallize this sacred treasure! | |
| Long should it glitter near my heart, | |
| A secret source of pensive pleasure. | |
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| The little brilliant, ere it fell, | 5 |
| Its lustre caught from Chloe’s eye; | |
| Then, trembling, left its coral cell,— | |
| The spring of Sensibility! | |
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| Sweet drop of pure and pearly light! | |
| In thee the rays of Virtue shine, | 10 |
| More calmly clear, more mildly bright, | |
| Than any gem that gilds the mine. | |
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| Benign restorer of the soul! | |
| Who ever fliest to bring relief, | |
| When first we feel the rude control | 15 |
| Of Love or Pity, Joy or Grief. | |
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| The sage’s and the poet’s theme, | |
| In every clime, in every age, | |
| Thou charm’st in Fancy’s idle dream, | |
| In Reason’s philosophic page. | 20 |
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| That very law which moulds a tear, | |
| And bids it trickle from its source,— | |
| That law preserves the earth a sphere, | |
| And guides the planets in their course. | | | | |
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