Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #4 "Solitude" - Male and Female)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

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 in the air;

The echoes bound to a joyful sound,

But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and mankind 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 one 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 isles of pain.

(Based on a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• In your life, think of the people that you really like. Why do you like them?
• How do you feel when you are around them?
• How do people react to you when you are happy? And when you are sad?

Go to Installment #5, (Male & Female versions)