Read "Drouth" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Why do we pity those who weep? The pain / That finds a ready outlet in the flow / Of salt and bitter tears is blessed woe, / And does not need our sympathies. The rain / But fits the shorn field for new yield of grain; / While the red, brazen skies, the sun's fierce glow, / The dry, hot winds that from the tropics blow / Do parch and wither the unsheltered plain. / The anguish that through long, remorseless years / Looks out upon the world with no relief / Of sudden tempests or slow-dripping tears -- / The still, unuttered, silent, wordless grief / That evermore doth ache, and ache, and ache -- / This is the sorrow wherewith hearts do break.