If I were a tear, a bright, pearly tear,
In the eye of a Christian mild;
I would flow at the sight of keen distress,
As the dew-drop falls on the earth to bless,
To calm the heart from tumult wild
Were my task so dear,
If I were a tear, a bright, pearly tear.
But as I am neither a smile nor sigh,
Nor even a tear pearly bright;
But an humble poet singing the while,