Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

Eternal smiles his emptiness betray,
As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.

Eternal smiles his emptiness betray,
As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth read more

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything does dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
But the smile that is worth the praise of earth
Is the smile that comes through tears.
. . . .
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile--
It is these that are worth the homage of earth,
For we find them but once in a while.

For smiles from reason flow
To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.

For smiles from reason flow
To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.

And she hath smiles to earth unknown--
Smiles that with motion of their own
Do spread, and read more

And she hath smiles to earth unknown--
Smiles that with motion of their own
Do spread, and sink, and rise.

Nobly he yokes
A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
Was that it was for read more

Nobly he yokes
A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
Was that it was for not being such a smile;
The smile mocking the sigh that it would fly
From so divine a temple to commix
With winds that sailors rail at.

With the smile that was childlike and bland.

With the smile that was childlike and bland.

Smiles form the channels of a future tear.

Smiles form the channels of a future tear.

In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.

In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.