591. Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
b"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."