Solitude

A poem that I (sort of) quote in many of my blog entries as well as in other writings, Solitude has been a favorite but unfortunately, I didn't know all the lines nor the author's name. So I thought I should google the lines and I came up with Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Here's the poem. How it fits the whole life scenario! Especially mine, right now.

Solitude

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow it's 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 long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

How true! How true! But dying is really an act that must be carried alone as is birth. You might be surrounded by people but you are born alone and you die alone.

And sometimes, you even live alone. So I guess it shouldn't bother to make the final transition alone as well.