I feel in every smile a chain.

I feel in every smile a chain.

For smiles from reason flow
To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.

For smiles from reason flow
To brute deny'd, and are of love the food.

My tables--meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
read more

My tables--meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.

And she hath smiles to earth unknown--
Smiles that with motion of their own
Do spread, and read more

And she hath smiles to earth unknown--
Smiles that with motion of their own
Do spread, and sink, and rise.

With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye.

With a smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye.

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth read more

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant,
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the one who will smile
When everything does dead wrong;
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
But the smile that is worth the praise of earth
Is the smile that comes through tears.
. . . .
But the virtue that conquers passion,
And the sorrow that hides in a smile--
It is these that are worth the homage of earth,
For we find them but once in a while.

From thy own smile I snatched the snake.

From thy own smile I snatched the snake.

Nobly he yokes
A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
Was that it was for read more

Nobly he yokes
A smiling with a sigh, as if the sigh
Was that it was for not being such a smile;
The smile mocking the sigh that it would fly
From so divine a temple to commix
With winds that sailors rail at.

Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away;
A single laugh demolished the right arm
Of his own country;--seldom since read more

Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away;
A single laugh demolished the right arm
Of his own country;--seldom since that day
Has Spain had heroes.