Comfort the sorrowful with watchful eyes <br />In silence, for the tongue cannot avail. <br />Vex not his wounds with rhetoric, nor the stale <br />Worn truths, that are but maddening mockeries <br />To him whose grief outmasters all replies. <br />Only watch near him gently; do but bring <br />The piteous help of silent ministering. <br />Watchful and tender. This alone is wise. <br /> <br />So shall thy presence and thine every motion, <br />The grateful knowledge of thy sad devotion <br />Melt out the passionate hardness of his grief, <br />And break the flood-gates of thy pent-up soul. <br />He shall bow down beneath thy mute control, <br />And take thine hands, and weep, and find relief.<br /><br />Archibald Lampman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/comfort-28/
