Careful Words

weeping (n.)

weeping (adj.)

When I can read my title clear

To mansions in the skies,

I 'll bid farewell to every fear,

And wipe my weeping eyes.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748): Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book ii. Hymn 65.

Who never ate his bread in sorrow,

Who never spent the darksome hours

Weeping, and watching for the morrow,—

He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.

Goethe (1749-1832): Wilhelm Meister. Book ii. Chap. xiii.

On parent knees, a naked new-born child,

Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled;

So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep,

Calm thou mayst smile, while all around thee weep.

Sir William Jones (1746-1794): From the Persian.

  If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.

Sophocles (496-406 b c): Scyrii. Frag. 510.

Who ne'er his bread in sorrow ate,

Who ne'er the mournful midnight hours

Weeping upon his bed has sate,

He knows you not, ye Heavenly Powers.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): Motto, Hyperion. Book i.