Solitude

BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

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.

      I first came across this poem when viewing the film Oldboy, the main character Oh Dae-Su quoted the first two verses when he was kept in solitude. They made me realize how low life can get if you spend the most of it mouring. After reading the hole poem some time later, I understood it's full message. Life is about living the most and the best of it. 'Fast, and the world goes by', no matter how we live it, we will always ' all file on through the narrow aisles of pain'. So live it happily, live it smiling and always keep in mind: carpe diem.