If I knew you and you knew me --
If both of us could clearly see,
And with an inner sight divine
The meaning of your heart and mine --
I'm sure that we would differ less
And clasp our hands in friendliness;
Our thoughts would pleasantly agree
If I knew you and you knew me.

If I knew you and you knew me,
As each one knows his own self, we
Could look each other in the face
And see therein a truer grace.
Life has so many hidden woes,
So many thorns for every rose;
The "why" of things our hearts would see,
If I knew you and you knew me.

by Nixon Waterman

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.

Ella Wilcox

who has learned to truly love has eyes that are not blind,
and lips forever slow to say a word that is unkind.
turns sadness into sweetness with fingers that can blend,
a shadow into sunlight and a song into the wind.

who has learned to truly love keeps summer in their heart,
can meet with truth and counterfeit and tell the two apart.
turns every precious hour, worth all its weight in gold,
into a lasting arc that makes a rainbow in their soul.

who has learned to truly love can bend and never break,
give everything within them and never wish to take.
can see a silver lining in every cloud above,
blaze trails through stars to light the years,
...the hearts that truly love.

grace easley