Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
A mother reunited with a child lost in infancy finds that the joy of meeting again pays back all her past sorrow.
In plain terms
Meeting a lost child brings joy that outweighs years of grief.
What can you take from it?
Joy can offset deep grief.

Where it applies

  • healing
  • family reunions
  • parenting

Putting it to work

  • cherish reunions

Questions to consider

  • Can joy ever erase pain?
  • What makes grief bearable?

Another view

It assumes all grief is redeemed by reunion.

More from Robert Southey

  1. They sin who tell us love can die; With life all other passions fly, All others are but vanity.

    Permalink to quote #31
  2. Thou hast been called, O sleep! the friend of woe; But 'tis the happy that have called thee so.

    Permalink to quote #33
  3. Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.

    Permalink to quote #30

Related quotes

  1. There's a hope for every woe, And a balm for every pain, But the first joys of our heart Come never back again!

    Robert GilfillanRobert Gilfillan quote #1
  2. You have lost a child, a dear, dear child. I have lost the only earthly object of my affection.... I have now one request to make,... deny me not. Afford me th…

    James BuchananJames Buchanan quote #1
  3. Until you have lost a child, you don't know what it is. Parents are supposed to die first. When your child is gone before you for an abnormal reason, it create…

    Sharon TateSharon Tate quote #12