Poems (Carmichael)/Sorrow

by Sarah Elizabeth Carmichael

SORROW.

There are many tones of sorrow,
 But its saddest voice to me
Is the mocking laugh that triumphs
 In another's agony:
I could weep for those who suffer,
 But the souls that woe can please—
Whose joy is wrung from others' pain—
 I pity, pity these.

There are many tones of sorrow
 Poured upon the chords of life—
Murmurs of its ceaseless changing,
 Murmurs of its restless strife;
But to live till pity's pleading
 Changes to a mocking hiss,
Till feeling withers to a sneer,
 Oh! Father, spare me this.