Reply to Rudyard Kipling's "He travels the fastest who travels alone."
Who travels alone with his eyes on the heights,
Tho' he laughs in the day time oft weeps in the nights.
For courage goes down at the set of the sun
When the toil of the journey is all borne by one.
He speeds but to grief tho' full gayly he ride
Who travels alone without love at his side.
Who travels alone without lover or friend
But hurries from nothing, to naught at the end.
Tho' great be his winnings and high be his goal
He is bankrupt in wisdom and beggared in soul.
Life's one gift of value to him is denied
Who travels alone without love at his side.
It is easy enough in this world to make haste
If one live for that purpose---but think of the waste.
For life is a poem to leisurely read
And the joy of the journey lies not in its speed.
Oh, vain his achievement, and petty his pride
Who travels alone without love at his side.
Poems of Power by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Chicago : W. B. Conkey, 1902.
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