Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TEARS, by PAUL H. OEHSER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TEARS, by                    
First Line: No eye-tears ever drown our deepest woe
Last Line: While heart-tears gnaw their human prey piece-meal.
Subject(s): Death; Grief; Hearts; Tears; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness


No eye-tears ever drown our deepest woe.
They mitigate our little, lesser griefs;
They wash away the rocks that hurt us so,
And cast us back unharmed from treacherous reefs.
They blind our eyes so that we do not see
The pass of Death, and ere it is quite gone
Our red lids pale, and then unwittingly
We slip a coin into the hand of Charon.

But bitter heart-tears never reach the eyes.
They burn and eat into our souls like fires,
Consuming, as the spirit slowly dies,
The hardened remnants of the heart's desires.
Eye-tears will boldly lie and cheat and steal;
While heart-tears gnaw their human prey piece-meal.





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