I measure every grief I meet

I measure every grief I meet
   With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
   Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
   Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
   It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
   And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
   They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled--
   Some thousands--on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
   Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
   Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
   By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
   The reason deeper lies,--
Death is but one and comes but once
   And only nails the eyes.

There's grief of want, and grief of cold,--
   A sort they call 'despair,'
There's banishment from native eyes,
   In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
   Correctly yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
   In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross
   Of those that stand alone
Still fascinated to presume
   That some are like my own.

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