The truest heart that ever loved
Could give its object pain -
Could bear to see the suffering
That brought the untold gain.
The mightiest hand that ever moved
Could wait to bring relief -
"Two days" apparent heedlessness
Of nature's deepest grief.
Would they have missed that sacred thing -
His sympathy—His tears -
Scene on which breaking hearts have leaned
For nineteen hundred years.
The wonder-working word that gave
Their loved one back again,
Seems scarce so precious as the groan
That proved He shared their pain.
O heart that loves so perfectly!
Thou often waitest still,
And blessed are the emptied hearts
They sympathy can fill.