One writes, that “Other friends remain,”
That “Loss is common to the race” —
And common is the commonplace,
And vacant chaff well meant for grain.
That loss is common would not make
My own less bitter, rather more:
Too common! Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.
— from ‘Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”.
The original poem is a bit long in its entirety. The last two last lines above comprise the title of Walter Langley’s eponymous 1894 painting.