PEACE! what do tears avail? <br />She lies all dumb and pale, <br /> And from her eye <br />The spirit of lovely life is fading, <br /> And she must die! <br />Why looks the lover wroth? the friend upbraiding? <br /> Reply, reply! <br /> <br />Hath she not dwelt too long <br />’Midst pain, and grief, and wrong? <br /> Then, why not die? <br />Why suffer again her doom of sorrow, <br /> And hopeless lie? <br />Why nurse the trembling dream until to-morrow? <br /> Reply, reply! <br /> <br />Death! Take her to thine arms, <br />In all her stainless charms, <br /> And with her fly <br />To heavenly haunts, where, clad in brightness, <br /> The Angels lie. <br />Wilt bear her there, O Death! in all her whiteness? <br /> Reply, reply!<br /><br />Barry Cornwall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/peace-what-do-tears-avail/
