Solitude         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,
It has trouble enough of it's 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 want 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
Suceed and give
And it helps you live
But it cannot 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

E.W.Wilcox 1850 -1919
The Queen of poetry