John Vance Cheney

From BillionQuotes

John Vance Cheney (1848 - 1922) Amercian Poet

Tears (1892)

• Not in the time of pleasure
  Hope doth set her bow;
  But in the sky of sorrow,
  Over the vale of woe.
  
  Through gloom and shadow look we
  On beyond the years!
  The soul would have no rainbow
  Had the eyes no tears.
  • The Century Vol. 44, Issue 4 (August 1892)
  • I have encountered a variant of this in my searches of the internet, but I do not know its original source:
    We look through gloom and storm-drift
    Beyond the years:
    The soul would have no rainbow
    Had the eyes no tears.
    There is also a book The Soul Would Have No Rainbow If The Eyes Had No Tears by Guy A. Zona where this statement is listed as a Minquass proverb. Whether the statement originated as an American Indian proverb, or in this poem by Cheney, I do not know. Good proverbs have a way of spreading in many ways, and their origins are often obscured. -KK

The Happiest Heart

• Who drives the horses of the sun
  Shall lord it but a day;
  Better the lowly deed were done,
  And kept the humble way.

• The rust will find the sword of fame,
  The dust will hide the crown;
  Ay, none shall nail so high his name
  Time will not tear it down.

• The happiest heart that ever beat
  Was in some quiet breast
  That found the common daylight sweet,
  And left to Heaven the rest.

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