The Pearl and Other Poems

B.R. Mullikin

Tears and Salt

If then you saw me you would weep!
Not for my form nor for my breath,
nor even for my sordid death,
But for my heart, yes! — for that weep
and wash those tears with salt

For what is man but many men
and I a fool who filled the rank
though not for love or human pride
nor more for might so glorified
and failed; as Aegir’s hall sank
so silent in the salt

Fool! I am that man whom none have known,
nor have the mass’s pride been worn
with tears or words or more, my blood;
nor ink and life so loved with scorn
for hopeful futures never sought.
For what is man beside all men;
if only tears could come again —
tasteless though thick with salt