I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of read more

I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other

Alone!--That worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing, and grief read more

Alone!--That worn-out word,
So idly spoken, and so coldly heard;
Yet all that poets sing, and grief hath known,
Of hope laid waste, knells in that word--Alone!

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of read more

O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep,--
Nature's observatory--whence the dell,
In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
'Mongst boughs pavilion'd, where the deer's swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell.

In solitude, where we are least alone.

In solitude, where we are least alone.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.

Loneliness is and always has been the central and inevitable experience of every man.

There is a society in the deepest solitude.

There is a society in the deepest solitude.

I am as one who is left alone at a banquet, the lights dead and
the flowers faded.

I am as one who is left alone at a banquet, the lights dead and
the flowers faded.

So lonely 'twas that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.

So lonely 'twas that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.