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Sorrow's Children
Persephone, as sorrow and as grief,
The world and all its tales are told in brief.
The mirth of all the ages comes to this:
A sunlit sorrow and a broken bliss.
The laws of sorrow rule the lives of men!
And we are different words within that line,
That may, together, solve its mysteries when
Arranged within a harmony divine.
And therefore, sorrow’s children are we all,
And we, like tears, together stay or fall.
Beyond our reach are we, what e’er we clutch.
We are not who we are, but who we touch.
There is no realm where sorrow doth not go!
Nor shall it be a stranger to thy soul.
So make it thy companion, not thy foe.
With sorrow and compassion, both be full.
Then wear thy grief, but wear thy grace as well,
And walk no more the Plains of Asphodel.
Leaven lands thou left, light love, light ladies!
Persephone, thy spring is not for Hades.
Copyright ©
Jerrold Prothero
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