A lovely smile, which smiled in sadness,
Once hailed upon the passing breeze
A new-born sigh, which sighed in gladness
To give a restless mortal ease.
The smile and sigh soon formed a union —
A union everlasting, blest —
Whereby, in brotherly communion,
Each worked to give the other rest.
Thus, mutually their toils relieving,
They lived in peaceful light and shade;
No petty jealousies conceiving,
Of nought, not even death, afraid.
And when, with friendship still unbroken,
Fate caused them for a time to part,
Each of the other kept a token,
To prove the two were one at heart.
For, smiling, the sigh to Heaven was carried
On angels' golden wings one day,
While, sighing, the smile on earth still tarried,
And lent its charm to lifeless clay.
Till then, this world was often dreary,
But since then (so the legend saith),
Death's sigh gives life unto the weary,
Life's smile itself illumines death.