Solitude

"Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has troubles enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost in 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 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 hall 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 large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain." —Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Note: 1 Peter 1:3-7; cf. 2 Timothy 3:10-12; 2 Corinthians 11:16-30; 2 Timothy 4:16.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets