ARTHUR O'SHAUGHNESSY
She went up slowly to the gate, And then, just as of yore,
She turn'd back at the last to wait And say farewell once more.
��830. The Fountain of Tears
TF you go over desert and mountain,
- Far into the country of Sorrow,
To-day and to-night and to-morrow,
And maybe for months and for years ;
You shall come with -a heart that is bursting For trouble and toiling and thirsting.
You shall certainly come to the fountain
At length, to the Fountain of Tears.
Very peaceful the place is, and solely For piteous lamenting and sighing, And those who come living or dying
Alike from their hopes and their fears ; Full of cypress-like shadows the place is, And statues that cover their faces:
But out of the gloom springs the holy
And beautiful Fountain of Tears.
And it flows and it flows with a motion
So gentle and lovely and listless,
And murmurs a tune so resistless To him who hath sufFer'd and hears
You shall surely without a word spoken,
Kneel down there and know your heart broken, And yield to the long-curb' d emotion That day by the Fountain of Tears.
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