Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/53

Rh “A smile is better than a tear you say,
 * Believe me, friends, it is not always so,

As I can prove. ’Twas but the other day
 * I stood with one whose heart was crushed with woe,

Beside the coffin where her treasure lay,
 * So great, so deep her grief, tears would not flow.

“Upon my breast she laid her aching head,
 * I tried to comfort her, but words were vain,

But as my tears fell fast above the dead
 * Her tears burst forth in showers like the rain;

Then when her grief was spent, she smiled and said:
 * ‘Dear friend, those tears have eased my heart’s dull pain.’”