- THE TEARS
WHERE, oh wind, do you carry the tears
That the muffled heads are weeping,
Under the roofs where no one hears,
While the Lord Christ is sleeping?
"Cold he lies in the reeds of the dawn,
But I carry them to him there.
Where far away from the world's scorn
They gleam like dew on his hair.
"The tears that are shed for loneliness
Like pearls on his forehead rest.
And the tears of passionate distress
Are opals on his breast.
"But where, oh wind, are the hopeless tears —
The tears no comfort know —
The tears that none but the midnight hears —
The tears of love's deep woe?
"Tell me, oh wind, ere you depart.
On his white body where are they?"
"Ah! They are in the Lord Christ's heart
And none can take them from him away!"
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927.
The author died in 1963, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.