Poem by William Cullen Bryant

“Blessed Are They That Mourn”

Oh, deem not they are blest alone
    Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep;
The Power who pities man, has shown
    A blessing for the eyes that weep.

The light of smiles shall fill again
    The lids that overflow with tears;
And weary hours of woe and pain
    Are promises of happier years.

There is a day of sunny rest
    For every dark and troubled night;
And grief may bide an evening guest,
    But joy shall come with early light.

And thou, who, o'er thy friend's low bier,
    Sheddest the bitter drops like rain,
Hope that a brighter, happier sphere
    Will give him to thy arms again.

Nor let the good man's trust depart,
    Though life its common gifts deny,—
Though with a pierced and broken heart,
    And spurned of men, he goes to die.

For God has marked each sorrowing day
    And numbered every secret tear,
And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay
    For all his children suffer here.

1. Rizpah
2. A Scene on the Banks of the Hudson
3. The Hunter of the Prairies
4. The Lapse of Time
5. The African Chief

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