“And yet I would not be a child again.
For surely as the night succeeds the day,
So surely will their mirth turn into tears.
And I would not return to happy hours,
If I must live again these weary years.
I would walk on, and leave it all behind:
will walk on; and when my feet grow sore,
The boatman waits—his sails are all unfurled—
He waits to row me to a fairer shore.”
“All Mad"
'He is mad as a hare, poor fellow,
And should be in chains,' you say,
I haven't a doubt of your statement,
But who isn't mad, I pray?
Why, the world is a great asylum,
And the people are all insane,
Gone daft with pleasure or folly,
Or crazed with passion and pain.
The infant who shrieks at a shadow,
The child with his Santa Claus faith,
The woman who worships Dame Fashion,
Each man with his notions of death,
The miser who hoards up his earnings,
The spendthrift who wastes them too soon,
The scholar grown blind in his delving,
The lover who stares at the moon.
The poet who thinks life a paean,
The cynic who thinks it a fraud,
The youth who goes seeking for pleasure,
The preacher who dares talk of God,
All priests with their creeds and their croaking,
All doubters who dare to deny,
The gay who find aught to wake laughter,
The sad who find aught worth a sigh,
Whoever is downcast or solemn,
Whoever is gleeful and gay,
Are only the dupes of delusions—
We are all of us—all of us mad.”
“Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.”
“Uselessness
Let mine not be the saddest fate of all,
To live beyond my greater self; to see
My faculties decaying, as the tree
Stands stark and helpless while its green leaves fall
Let me hear rather the imperious call,
Which all men dread, in my glad morning time,
And follow death ere I have reached my prime,
Or drunk the strengthening cordial of life's gall.
The lightning's stroke or the fierce tempest blast
Which fells the green tree to the earth to-day
Is kinder than the calm that lets it last,
Unhappy witness of its own decay.
May no man ever look on me and say,
'She lives, but all her usefulness is past.”
Source: Poems Of Cheer
“Two Kinds of People
There are two kinds of people on earth today,
Two kinds of people no more I say.
Not the good or the bad, for it's well understood,
The good are half bad, the bad are half good.
Not the happy or sad, for in the swift-flying years,
Bring each man his laughter, each man his tears.
Not the rich or the poor, for to count a man's wealth,
You must know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span,
Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.
No! the two kinds of people on earth I mean,
Are the people who lift, the people who lean.
Wherever you go you'll find the world's masses
Are ever divided into these two classes.
And, strangely enough, you will find, too, I mean,
There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of the overtaxed lifters who toiled down the road?
Or are you a leaner who lets others bear,
Your portion of worry and labor and care?”
“We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest;
And deal full many a thoughtless blow,
To those who love us best.”
“Music is an important factor in mature life, and looking back across the years I realize that some wise, kind "Invisible Helper," urged me on always in every attempt I made to express myself in music, so that, in my later years, I might have this consolation and means of mental and spiritual development.”
Source: The Worlds And I
“I know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and murk,
Another truth shines plain.
It is in my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.
I know that the earth exists,
It is none of my business why.
I cannot find out what it's all about,
I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
I am here for a little space.
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
To brighten and better the place.”
Source: Poems of power
“For here lies the pleasure of living: In taking God's bounties, and giving The gifts back again.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Talk health. The dreary, never-changing tale Of mortal maladies is worn and stale. You cannot charm, or interest, or please By harping in that minor chord, disease. Say you are well, or all is well with you, And God shall hear your words and make them true.”
“Back on its golden hinges The gate of Memory swings, And my heart goes into the garden And walks with the olden things.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Don't look for flaws as you go through life and even when you find them it is wise and kind to be somewhat blind, and look for the virtue behind them.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Day's sweetest moments are at dawn.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Give thy love freely, do not count the cost: So beautiful a thing was never lost.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“I like the roar of cities. In the mart, Where busy toilers strive for place and gain, I seem to read humanity's great heart, And share its hopes, its pleasures, and its pain.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Trust in thine own untried capacity As thou wouldst trust in God himself. Thy soul Is but an emanation from the whole. Thou dost not dream what forces lie in thee, Vast and unfathomed as the grandest sea.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“I will not doubt, though sorrows fall like rain, And troubles swarm like bees about a hive; I shall believe the heights for which I strive Are only reached by anguish and by pain; And though I groan and tremble with my crosses, I yet shall see, through my severest losses, The greater gain.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“All hope is prayer; who calls it hope no more, Sends prayer footsore forth over weary wastes, While he who calls it prayer, gives wings to hope.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“No joy for which thy hungering heart has panted, No hope it cherishes through waiting years, But if thou dost deserve it, shall be granted For with each passionate wish the blessing nears. Tune up the fine, strong instrument of thy being To chord with thy dear hope, and do not tire. When both in key and rhythm are agreeing, Lo! thou shalt kiss the lips of thy desire. The thing thou cravest so waits in the distance, Wrapt in the silences, unseen and dumb: Essential to thy soul and thy existence-- Live worthy of it--call, and it shall come.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Life is a garden forever in flower.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Life is too short for aught but high endeavor.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“This world is a vaporous jest at best, Tossed off by the gods in laughter, And a cruel attempt at wit were it, If nothing better came after.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Life is a Shylock; always it demands The fullest userer's interest for each pleasure. Gifts are not freely scattered by its hands; We make returns for every borrowed treasure.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Love is a spy who is plotting treason, In league with that warm, red rebel, the Heart.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Oh! I know this truth, if I know no other, That passionate Love is Pain's own mother.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Love is the crown that glorifies; the curse That brands and burdens; it is life and death. It is the great law of the universe; And nothing can exist without its breath.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Love is the impulse which directs the world, And all things know it and obey its power. Man, in the maelstrom of his passions whirled; The bee that takes the pollen to the flower; The earth, uplifting her bare, pulsing breast To fervent kisses of the amorous sun;-- Each but obeys creative Love's behest, Which everywhere instinctively is done.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Love is as bitter as the dregs of sin, As sweet as clover-honey in its cell; Love is the password whereby souls get in To Heaven--the gate that leads, sometimes, to Hell.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“But now I know that there is no killing A thing like Love, for it laughs at Death. There is no hushing, there is no stilling That which is part of your life and breath. You may bury it deep, and leave behind you The land, the people that knew your slain; It will push the sods from its grave, and find you On wastes of water or desert plain.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“How does Love speak? In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek, And in the pallor that succeeds it; by The quivering lid of an averted eye-- The smile that proves the parent to a sigh Thus doth Love speak.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Love is the centre and circumference; The cause and aim of all things--'tis the key To joy and sorrow, and the recompense For all the ills that have been, or may be.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“The loves of men but vary in degrees-- They find no new expression for the flame.”
Source: Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox: Passion
“Love is the only thing that pays for birth, Or makes death welcome. Oh, dear God above This beautiful but sad, perplexing earth, Pity the hearts that know--or know not--Love!”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“We waste half our strength in a useless regretting; We sit by old tombs in the dark too long.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“There is a haunting phantom called Regret, A shadowy creature robed somewhat like woe, But fairer in the face, whom all men know By her said mien, and eyes forever wet. No heart would seek her; but once having met All take her by the hand, and to and fro They wander through those paths of long ago-- Those hallowed ways 'twere wiser to forget.”
“I hold it true that thoughts are things Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings, And that we send them forth to fill The world with good results--or ill.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; All things give way before it, soon or late.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“It is a common fate -- a woman's lot -- To waste on one the riches of her soul, Who takes the wealth she gives him, but cannot Repay the interest, and much less the whole.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendor Fades from the skies when the sun sinks to sleep.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“All perfect things are saddening in effect. The autumn wood robed in its scarlet clothes, The matchless tinting on the royal rose Whose velvet leaf by no least flaw is flecked. Love's supreme moment, when the soul unchecked Soars high as heaven, and its best rapture knows, These hold a deeper pathos than our woes, Since they leave nothing better to expect.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“How fleeting the sorrows of youth, how slight the foundations on which the young build towers of despair.”
“The world needs divine power in every human being the recognition of which is the secret to all success and happiness.”
“It is impossible to pursue a successful literary career and follow the advice of all one's 'best friends'.I feel compelled to follow the light which my own intellect & judgement cast upon my way, rather than any one of the many conflicting rays which other minds would lend me.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“I'm no reformer; for I see more lightThan darkness in the world; mine eyes are quickTo catch the first dim radiance of the dawn,And slow to note the cloud that threatens storm.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Body and mind, and spirit, all combineTo make the Creature, human and divine.Of this great trinity no part deny.Affirm, affirm, the Great Eternal I.”
Source: Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Delphi Classics)
“Affirm the body, beautiful and whole,
The earth-expression of immortal soul.
Affirm the mind, the messenger of the hour,
To speed between thee and the source of power.
Affirm the spirit, the Eternal I -
Of this great trinity no part deny.”
“If fallacies come knocking at my door,I'd rather feed, and shelter full a score,Than hide behind the black portcullis, doubt,And run the risk of barring one Truth out.And if pretension for a time deceive,And prove me one too ready to believe,Far less my shame, than if by stubborn act,I brand as lie, some great colossal Fact.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“Not to the curious or impatient soulThat in the start, demands the end be shown,And at each step, stops waiting for a sign;But to the tireless toiler toward the goal,Shall the great miracles of God be knownAnd life revealed, immortal and divine.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
“Give, and thou shalt receive. Give thoughts of cheer,Of courage and success, to friend and stranger.And from a thousand sources, far and near,Strength will be sent thee in thy hour of danger.”
Source: The Collected Poems
“Who climbs the mountain does not always climb.The winding road slants downward many a time;Yet each descent is higher than the last.”
Source: Leafs On An Idle Breeze - My Inspirational Poems (Annotated Edition)
