Silent Tears
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
What bitter sorrow courses down
Yon mourner’s faded cheek?
Those scalding drops betray a grief
Within, too full to speak.
Outspoken words cannot express
The pangs, the pains of years;
They’re ne’er so deep or eloquent
As are those silent tears.
Here is a wound that in the breast
Must canker, hid’n from sight;
Though all without seems sunny day,
Within ’Tis ever night.
Yet sometimes from this secret source
The gloomy truth appears;
The wind’s dark dungeon must have vent
If but in silent tears.
The world may deem from outward looks
That heart is hard and cold;
But oh! could they the mantle lift
What sorrows would be told!
Then, only then, the truth would show
Which most the bosom sears:
The pain portrayed by burning words
Or that by—silent tears.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 150 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXAXBXCXDXDXBXC XEXEXBXC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 755 |
Words | 135 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8 |
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"Silent Tears" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/17561/silent-tears>.
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