Poetry Revisited: Be Not Sad Because All Men by James Joyce

Poem XIX
Be Not Sad Because All Men

(from Chamber Music: 1907)

Be not sad because all men
Prefer a lying clamour before you:
Sweetheart, be at peace again,
Can they dishonour you?

They are sadder than all tears;
Their lives ascend as a continual sigh.
Proudly answer to their tears:
As they deny, deny.

James Joyce (1882-1941)
Irish novelist and poet