This life is a valley of tears!

"In the world you have trouble and suffering." John 16:33

This life is a valley of tears!

Have I mistaken this thorny wilderness--for a garden of flowers?
Have I mistaken this place of danger--for a palace of delight?
Have I mistaken this waste howling desert--for an enchanting grove?

If the world has joys, it has none for me--they are carnal or unlawful. My joys must be pure and spiritual. If the creature affords pleasures, they cannot suit my soul--
  its honey is mixed with gall,
  its sweet with wormwood,
  its wine with water,
  its gold with dross,
  and all are mixed with poison!

The pleasures I should seek are such as my soul may . . .
   feed on without danger,
   feast on without excess,
   and rejoice in without sin.

Again, why do I expect comfort in this world? Can I hope, or even desire, to go through the valley of tears--with singing? Can I hope to dwell in the house of mourning--with joy?

This sinful world is too barren a soil to bear true joy.

This is the night of weeping; and though weeping endures through the night of time, yet joy comes in the morning of eternity!

 ("Solitude Sweetened" by James Meikle, 1730-1799)