Her very frowns are fairer far
Than smiles of other maidens are.

Her very frowns are fairer far
Than smiles of other maidens are.

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.

I feel in every smile a chain.

I feel in every smile a chain.

There is a snake in thy smile, my dear,
And bitter poison within thy tear.

There is a snake in thy smile, my dear,
And bitter poison within thy tear.

Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away;
A single laugh demolished the right arm
Of his own country;--seldom since read more

Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away;
A single laugh demolished the right arm
Of his own country;--seldom since that day
Has Spain had heroes.

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.

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.

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.

'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.