Before a farewell, the speaker watches a woman struggling to hold back her sadness. She looks as dim and sorrowful as an eclipsed moon over the harvest fields, and her forced smiles only reveal the pain behind them. The wind catches her hair and throws it across his face, making the moment feel intimate and unsettled. He senses that her grief is already pressing at her eyes, promising tears that will not fall. Rather than let the tension continue, he takes her hand and says goodbye, believing that it would be better for her to cry and let her feelings go numb than to keep them locked inside. The mood is tender, melancholy, and charged with suppressed emotion, like a late summer day about to break into rain.
Before the Tears — Summary
You looked as sad as an eclipséd moon Above the sheaves of harvest, and there lay A light lisp on your tongue, and very soon The petals of your deep blush fell away; White smiles that come with an uneasy grace From inner sorrow crossed your forehead fair, When the wind passing took your scattered hair And flung it like a brown shower in my face.
Tear-fringéd winds that fill the heart's low sighs And never break upon the bosom's pain, But blow unto the windows of the eyes Their misty promises of silver rain, Around your loud heart ever rose and fell. I thought 'twere better that the tears should come And strike your every feeling wholly numb, So thrust my hand in yours and shook fare-well.