The Mask

		I
I have a smiling face, she said,
  I have a jest for all I meet,
I have a garland for my head
  And all its flowers are sweet, -
And so you call me gay, she said.

		II
Grief taught to me this smile, she said,
  And Wrong did teach this jesting bold;
These flowers were picked from gardenbed
  While a death-chime was tolled;
And what now will you say? - she said.

		III
Behind no prison gate, she said
  Which slurs the sunshine half a mile,
Live captives so uncomforted
  As souls behind a smile.
God's pity let us pray, she said.

		IV
I know my face is bright, she said, -
  Such brightness dying suns diffuse:
I bear upon my forehead shed
  The sign of what I lose,
The ending of my day, she said.

		V
If I dared leave this smile, she said,
  And take a moan upon my mouth,
And tie a cypress round my head,
  And let my tears run smooth,
It were the better way, she said.

		VI
And since that must not be, she said,
  I fain your bitter world would leave.
How calmly, calmly smile the dead,
  Who do not, therefore, grieve!
The yea of Heaven is yea, she said.

		VII
But in your bitter world, she said,
  Face-joy's a costly mask to wear;
'Tis bought with pangs long nouished,
  And rounded to despair:
Grief's earnest makes life's play, she said.

		VIII
Ye weep for those who weep?  she said -
  Ah, fools!  I bid you pass them by.
Go, weep for those whose hearts have bled
  What time their eyes were dry.
Whom sadder can I say?  she said.