amberwrites

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

This is one of my favorite poems because of its honesty and vulnerability. It sums up how I view my world today. Although I am not alone, I can sense the loneliness she feels.

We have our support systems and are grateful for them in the good times and not so good. But the truth of the matter is we walk the majority of the valleys alone.

We work through most of the pain by ourselves. In the quiet times at night before bed, we hear nothing but the voices in our head trying to process and make sense of the life surrounding us.

We are scared to face the solitude because the thought of being truly alone exposes the emptiness we feel deep inside.

Cacophonies of the dark weigh heavily and the pressure closes in. We realize that in a world crowded by people, we have no one.