I've been thinking a lot lately about being alone and being in company. I knew the first lines of this poem, most people do, but I had no idea what the rest of it was like.
Solitude
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
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Really like this one- thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI was always fond of a line from the movie ROXANNE; Steve Martin as C.D. Bales, doing the whole 20 insults about his nose...and one of them was, "Laugh and world laughs with you; sneeze, and it's goodbye, Seattle!"
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