Explore "The Need of the World" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I know the need of the world, / Though it would not have me know. / It would hide its sorrow deep, / Where only God may go. / Yet its secret it can not keep; / It tells it awake, or asleep, / It tells it to all who will heed, / And he who runs may read. / The need of the world I know.
I know the need of the world, / When it boasts of its wealth the loudest, / When it flaunts it in all men's eyes, / When its mien is the gayest and proudest. / Oh! ever it lies-it lies, / For the sound of its laughter dies / In a sob and a smothered moan, / And it weeps when it sits alone. / The need of the world I know.