Classic Poem

Life of itself will be cruel and hard enough:
There will be pain and loss enough to bear;
Battles to wage, sorrow and tears to share.
We must know grief and the salt taste thereof;
Must mark the Shadow towering above;
Must shut our eyes to gain the strength to dare
And force tired hearts to face the noise and glare,
Though it is dusk and silence that we love.

Life has no need of stones that we might heap
To build up walls between; no need of tears
That we seek out and proudly make our own.
Oh my beloved, since we have alone
These brief hours granted from the hurrying years,
Be patient — life itself will make us weep!