Poetry Solace: Of paying and the way

2 more poems from Ella Wheeler Wilcox that I liked..

Does it pay?
If one poor burdened toiler o’er life’s road,
Who meets us by the way,
Goes on less conscious of his galling load,
Then life, indeed, does pay.

If we can show the troubled heart the gain
That lies always in loss,
Why, then, we too are paid for all the pain
Of bearing life’s hard cross.

If some despondent soul to hope is stirred,
Some sad lip made to smile,
By any act of ours, or any word,
Then, life has been worth while.

The Way of It

This is the way of it, wide world over,

One is beloved, and one is the lover,

One gives and the other receives.

One lavishes all in a wild emotion,

One offers a smile for a life’s devotion,

One hopes and the other believes,

One lies awake in the night to weep,

And the other drifts off in a sweet sound sleep.

One soul is aflame with a godlike passion,

One plays with love in an idler’s fashion,

One speaks and the other hears.

One sobs, ‘I love you, ’ and wet eyes to show it,

And one laughs lightly, and says, ‘I know it, ’

With smiles for the other’s tears.

One lives for the other and nothing beside,

And the other remembers the world is wide.

This is the way of it, sad earth over,

The heart that breaks is the heart of the lover,

And the other learns to forget.

‘For what is the use in endless sorrow?

Though the sun goes down, it will rise tomorrow;

And life is not over yet.’

Oh! I know this truth, if I know no other,

That passionate Love is Pain’s own mother.

Have a great weekend!