“It was a mite that held itself most dear,
So small I could have drowned it with a tear.”

—  Karl Shapiro

"Interludes" III, in From Darkness To Light : A Confession of Faith in the form of an Anthology (1956) edited by Victor Gollancz
Context: Then in my heart a fear
Cried out, "A life — why, beautiful, why dead!" It was a mite that held itself most dear,
So small I could have drowned it with a tear.

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Karl Shapiro 15
Poet, essayist 1913–2000

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