Poetry Solace: Of solitude and loving enough

I like the poems written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.. without knowing they were hers..

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


Are you Loving Enough?
Are you loving enough? There is some one dear,
    Some one you hold as the dearest of all
In the holiest shrine of your heart.
    Are you making it known? Is the truth of it clear
To the one you love? If death's quick call
    Should suddenly tear you apart,
Leaving no time for a long farewell,
    Would you feel you had nothing to tell---
Nothing you wished you had said before
    The closing of that dark door?

Are you loving enough? The swift years fly---
    Oh, faster and faster they hurry away,
And each one carries its dead.
    The good deed left for the by and by,
The word to be uttered another day,
    May never be done or said.
Let the love word sound in the listening ear,
    Nor wait to speak it above a bier.
Oh the time for telling your love is brief,
    But long, long, long is the time for grief.
Are you loving enough?

A few more poems from Wilcox, next time..

Have a good weekend!