Life's lessons

When one has arrived at a certain stage of life (as I have, and then some), it is common to grouse about loneliness. And so perhaps one should - or maybe not. 

Yesterday, I idly opened a big book assembling the lyric poetry of Lope de Vega. My eyes alighted on the following famous lines: "A mis soledades voy,/de mis soledades vengo,/porque para andar conmigo/me bastan mis pensamientos." 

I take it that Lope is highlighting three things: 1) the solitude that is an inescapable component of the human condition; 2) the melancholy that sets in with one's later years: and 3) the solitude that ensues from commitment to the profession of writer.

These are abiding truths from a major writer of Spain's Siglo de Oro.