591. Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com\n\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\n\n---------------------------------------\n\nSolitude\n\nby Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 \u2013 1919)\n \n \nLaugh, and the world laughs with you; \nWeep, and you weep alone. \nFor the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, \nBut has trouble enough of its own. \nSing, and the hills will answer; \nSigh, it is lost on the air. \nThe echoes bound to a joyful sound, \nBut shrink from voicing care. \n\nRejoice, and men will seek you; \nGrieve, and they turn and go. \nThey want full measure of all your pleasure, \nBut they do not need your woe. \nBe glad, and your friends are many; \nBe sad, and you lose them all. \nThere are none to decline your nectared wine, \nBut alone you must drink life's gall. \n\nFeast, and your halls are crowded; \nFast, and the world goes by. \nSucceed and give, and it helps you live, \nBut no man can help you die. \nThere is room in the halls of pleasure \nFor a long and lordly train, \nBut one by one we must all file on \nThrough the narrow aisles of pain.\n\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud, 2007.