Look directly as I shed tears aloud (7)

I believe the answer is:

eyeball

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'look directly' is the definition.
'eyeball' can be an answer for 'look' (eyeballing is a kind of looking). I am unsure of the 'directly' bit.

'i shed tears aloud' is the wordplay.
'i' becomes 'eye' (I've seen this in other clues).
'shed tears' becomes 'bawl' (I've seen this in another clue).
'aloud' shows a homophone (sound like).
'bawl' is a homophone of 'ball'.
'eye'+'ball'='EYEBALL'

'as' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eyeball that I've seen before include "Watch" , "Look at closely" , "Stare at closely (colloq.)" , "Organ of sight" , "Ocular orb" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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