Each lonely scene shall thee restore;

For thee the tear be duly shed,

Belov'd till life can charm no more,

And mourn'd till Pity's self be dead.

William Collins (1720-1756): Dirge in Cymbeline.

Man!

Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto iv. Stanza 109.

Life! we 've been long together

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;

'T is hard to part when friends are dear,—

Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear;

Then steal away, give little warning,

Choose thine own time;

Say not "Good night," but in some brighter clime

Bid me "Good morning."

Mrs Barbauld (1743-1825): Life.

Oh, could you view the melody

Of every grace

And music of her face,

You 'd drop a tear;

Seeing more harmony

In her bright eye

Than now you hear.

Richard Lovelace (1618-1658): Orpheus to Beasts.

One kind kiss before we part,

Drop a tear and bid adieu;

Though we sever, my fond heart

Till we meet shall pant for you.

Robert Dodsley (1703-1764): The Parting Kiss.

The drying up a single tear has more

Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Don Juan. Canto viii. Stanza 3.

But, children, you should never let

Such angry passions rise;

Your little hands were never made

To tear each other's eyes.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748): Divine Songs. Song xvi.

And lovelier things have mercy shown

To every failing but their own;

And every woe a tear can claim,

Except an erring sister's shame.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: The Giaour. Line 418.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,

The upward glancing of an eye

When none but God is near.

James Montgomery (1771-1854): What is Prayer?

And the tear that is wiped with a little address,

May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Rose.

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

Open as day for melting charity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry IV. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 4.

Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed,

Less pleasing when possest;

The tear forgot as soon as shed,

The sunshine of the breast.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 5.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,

Heaven did a recompense as largely send:

He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear,

He gained from Heav'n ('t was all he wish'd) a friend.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): The Epitaph.

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see

That banner in the sky.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894): Old Ironsides.

None are so desolate but something dear,

Dearer than self, possesses or possess'd

A thought, and claims the homage of a tear.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto ii. Stanza 24.

With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Marmion. Canto v. Stanza 12.

That very law which moulds a tear

And bids it trickle from its source,—

That law preserves the earth a sphere,

And guides the planets in their course.

Samuel Rogers (1763-1855): On a Tear.

A stoic of the woods,—a man without a tear.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Gertrude of Wyoming. Part i. Stanza 23.

Without the meed of some melodious tear.

John Milton (1608-1674): Lycidas. Line 14.

O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies

In the small orb of one particular tear.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Lover's Complaint. Line 288.

E'en like the passage of an angel's tear

That falls through the clear ether silently.

John Keats (1795-1821): To One who has been long in City pent.

Life! we 've been long together

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;

'T is hard to part when friends are dear,—

Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear;

Then steal away, give little warning,

Choose thine own time;

Say not "Good night," but in some brighter clime

Bid me "Good morning."

Mrs Barbauld (1743-1825): Life.

When I am dead, no pageant train

Shall waste their sorrows at my bier,

Nor worthless pomp of homage vain

Stain it with hypocritic tear.

Edward Everett (1794-1865): Alaric the Visigoth.

The big round tear stands trembling in her eye.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book iv. Line 936.

The social smile, the sympathetic tear.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): Education and Government.

No radiant pearl which crested Fortune wears,

No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears,

Not the bright stars which Night's blue arch adorn,

Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows

Down Virtue's manly cheek for others' woes.

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802): The Botanic Garden. Part ii. Canto iii. Line 459.

And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls,

Shall long keep his memory green in our souls.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852): Oh breathe not his Name.

Come to the bridal chamber, Death!

Come to the mother's, when she feels

For the first time her first-born's breath!

Come when the blessed seals

That close the pestilence are broke,

And crowded cities wail its stroke!

Come in consumption's ghastly form,

The earthquake shock, the ocean storm!

Come when the heart beats high and warm,

With banquet song, and dance, and wine!

And thou art terrible!—the tear,

The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier,

And all we know or dream or fear

Of agony are thine.

Alfred Bunn (1790-1860): Marco Bozzaris.

A winy vapour melting in a tear.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book xix. Line 143.

And the tear that is wiped with a little address,

May be follow'd perhaps by a smile.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Rose.