Against Nothingness

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. For 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. 

Losing His Place by Andrew Demoline Rumbling ever onward go, The world shall never stop. Rumbling ever onward go, There is no place for off. No out, no way, no else; One place to spend your days. No far away, nor yonder, To ease the windy way. Rumbling ever onward go, We looked both far and near. Rumbling ever onward go, There seemed no place but here. No out, no way, no else; This giant wheel moves on. But what if we could step aside; Would life seize up, be done? We heard, we three, of one that did His story gives us hope We heard, we three, of one that's gone Could we to break this rope? He turned his head aside, Somehow the world turned too. He took just one small step, Somehow he made it through. We heard, we three of one that did, What happened to that man? We heard, we three, of one that's gone, But where could he have ran? We talked and stepped and tried, the world would not be skewed, Until we turned our heads just right, Then

Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh Sometimes things don't go, after all, from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail, sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.  A people sometimes will step back from war; elect an honest man; decide they care enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.  Some men become what they were born for.  Sometimes our best efforts do not go  amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.  The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you. 

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;  For your steadfast love endures forever. My soul thirsts for you,  my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Where there is, still, your steadfast love O Lord. I have seen you in the sanctuary  and beheld your power and your glory. Beholding your steadfast love. Because your love is better than life,  my lips will glorify you. For your steadfast love endures forever. I will praise you as long as I live,  and in your name I will lift up my hands. In your name, you who are Love. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;   Satisfied with your steadfast love. With singing lips my mouth will praise you. Praise you for your steadfast love. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. For your steadfast love endures forever. Because you are my help,  I sing in the shadow of your wings. I sing of your steadfast love, which never leaves my side. My soul clings to you