There's a tear that falls when we part
From a friend whose loss we shall mourn.
There's a tear that falls from the half broken heart,
When we think he may never return - oh never.
'Tis hard to be parted from those
With whom we forever could dwell.
But bitter indeed is the sorrow that flows,
When perhaps we are saying farewell - forever.

There's a tear that brightens the eye
Of the friend whose absence is o'er!
There's a tear that falls not for sorrow but for joy,
When we meet to be parted no more - oh never.
Then all that in absence we dread
Is past, and forgotten our pain;
For sweet is the tear we at such moments shed,
When we behold the loved object again - forever.

S.M. Edelen