Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс)
The Common Link
When on the crowded thoroughfare, Amidst the motley throng I stray, In all the stranger faces there, I meet and pass from day to day, Whether the face be young, or old, Or wreathed in smiles, or calm, or cold, On every brow I trace some line That links the strangers' heart to mine. Though a proud beauty rustles by, With haughty mien, I smile and say, "You have a heart-ache--so have I: We both are hiding it to-day. Though you are rich, I am poor, We both have entered sorrow's door; Grief comes alike to you and me, So we are of one family." The richest nabob that I meet, The poorest delver that I see, Youth and old age upon the street, Are one and all the same to me. No heart that beats, but has its grief; Nor wealth, nor youth, gives full relief; And through the tears that sometimes fall I claim relationship to all. So poor, and rich, and high, and low, I meet upon this common plain. Though far and wide our paths may lie, We entertain the same guest--Pain. The subtle threads of this strange cord, Draw me to mankind, and the Lord, And through the sorrows heaven sends, I hold all men to be my friends.
1869
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