Classic Poem

The starless eyes of sorrow
Why seekest thou, O youth?
Thine eyes speak that men call the truth;
Thy songs bespeak fair morrow!
Thou camest from yon hills serene
Rejoicing; hast thou never seen
The starless eyes of sorrow?’

‘Nay, once,’ he said, ‘in shadow
A cold wind whispered me,
“The woman Sorrow,—there is she!”
And pointed down the meadow.
But when I crossed the fragrant down,
I saw the maiden Peace, alone,
Her fair face in the shadow.

‘The starless eyes of sorrow,
Men say, do never smile:
For me, the earth sings all the while,
The sunlight laughs Good-morrow!
And would that these my melodies
Might bid a single star arise
In starless eyes of sorrow.’