Comfort

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