kat, are you sure that is an anti-solitariness poem? St. John's writings are almost always about the glories of the solitary pushing upwards towards the face of God. Or are you being ironic in a subtle way (obtuseness is a Monday disease)? It would sure be nice to have a discussion about St. John of the Cross for a change!
I have a Coue parody I always use about betterment:
"Every morning I get up, and the first thing I do is go and look in the mirror, and say : --'Every day in every way, I am beginning to repeat myself!"
yours, Peter t.