Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“ Which at Time’s natal hour was first begun,
Shines ever on her lover as they run
And lights his orbit with her silvery smile.
Sometimes such passionate love doth in her rise,
Down from her beaten path she softly slips,
And with her mantle veils the Sun’s bold eyes,
Then in the gloaming finds her lover’s lips.
While far and near the men our world call wise
See only that the Sun is in eclipse. ”

“ And that is how he sees and hears our tears
Unmoved and calm from the eternal spheres.
p. 104But sometimes, since he parted with all passion,
In trifling mood, to pass the time away,
He has created men in that same fashion,
And many women (jesting as gods may) ,
Who have no souls to be inspired or fired,
Mere sport of idle gods who have grown tired.
And these poor puppets, gazing in the dark
At their own shadows, think the world no higher;
And when they see the all-creative spark
In other souls, they straightway cry out, “Fire!” ”

“ Time and Force
Are frittered out and bring no satisfaction.
The way seems lost to straight determined action.
Like shooting stars that zig-zag from their course
We wander from our orbit’s pathway; spoil
The rôle we’re fitted for, to fail in twenty.
Bring empty measures, that were shaped for plenty,
At last as guerdon for a life of toil.
There’s lack of greatness in this generation
Because no more man centres on one thought. ”

“ Severe of face, gaunt-armed, and wildly dressed,
She is not fair nor beautiful to see.
But merry April and sweet smiling May
Come not till March has first prepared the way.
p. 60THE END OF THE SUMMER The birds laugh loud and long together
When Fashion’s followers speed away
At the first cool breath of autumn weather.
Why, this is the time, cry the birds, to stay!
When the deep calm sea and the deep sky over
Both look their passion through sun-kissed space,
As a blue-eyed maid and her blue-eyed lover
Might each gaze into the other’s face. ”

“ Is that vast power that comes from Truth’s immensity.
Thou art a part of that strange world, I say.
Its forces lie within thee, stronger far
Than all thy mortal sins and frailties are,
Believe thyself divine, and watch, and pray.
p. 49There is no noble height thou canst not climb.
All triumphs may be thine in Time’s futurity,
If whatso’er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt,
But lean upon the staff of God’s security. ”

“ Let all men heed its truth who read:
“Republics rule the World!”
The universe is high as God!
Good is the final goal;
The world revolves and man evolves
A purpose and a soul.
No church can bind, no crown forbid
Thought’s mighty upward course—
Let kings give way before its sway,
For God inspires its force. ”

“ From cycle to cycle, through time and through space,
Your lives with your longings will ever keep pace.
And all that you ask for, and all you desire,
Must come at your bidding, as flames out of fire.
p. 17Once list to that voice and all tumult is done,
Your life is the life of the Infinite One;
In the hurrying race you are conscious of pause,
With love for the purpose and love for the cause. ”

“ She scorned the thought of toil, in youth,
And chose the path that leads from truth.
More women fall from want of gold
Than love leads wrong, if truth were told;
More women sin for gay attire
Than sin through passion’s blinding fire. ”

“ This dear old world in space were hurled
If love lent not his light.
(O love, stay near!)
p. 25LAST LOVE The first flower of the spring is not so fair
Or bright as one the ripe midsummer brings.
The first faint note the forest warbler sings
Is not as rich with feeling, or so rare
As when, full master of his art, the air
Drowns in the liquid sea of song he flings
Like silver spray from beak, and breast, and wings. ”

“ Earth has no claim the soul can not contest.
Know thyself part of that Eternal Source,
And naught can stand before thy spirit’s force.
The soul’s divine inheritance is best.
p. 50INSIGHT On the river of life, as I float along,
I see with the spirit’s sight
That many a nauseous weed of wrong
Has root in a seed of right.
For evil is good that has gone astray,
And sorrow is only blindness,
And the world is always under the sway
Of a changeless law of kindness. ”

“ We must pity, condone, but not hear,
Where we stand.
As we live on those heights, we must live
With the courage and pride of a god;
For the world, it has nothing to give
But the scourge of the lash and the rod.
Our thoughts must be noble and broad,
Our purpose must challenge men’s gaze,
While we seek not their blame or their praise
As we live.
p. 43THE LADY AND THE DAME So, thou hast the art, good dame, thou swearest,
To keep Time’s perishing touch at bay
From the roseate splendour of the cheek so tender,
And the silver threads from the gold away. ”

“ So does the current of my love forever
Find added strength and beauty as it flows.
The more I give, the more remains for giving,
The more receive, the more remains to win.
Ah! only in eternities of living
Will life be long enough to love thee in.
p. 48THE ETERNAL WILL There is no thing we cannot overcome
Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,
Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,
And calls down punishment that is not merited. ”

“ Love is the vast constructive power of space;
Time is the hour which calls it into place;
Will is the means of using time and love,
And bringing forth the heart’s desires thereof.
p. 19The way is love, the time is now, and will
The patient method. Let this knowledge fill
Thy consciousness, and fate and circumstance,
Environment, and all the ills of chance
Must yield before the concentrated might
Of those three words, as shadows yield to light.
Go, charge thyself with love; be infinite
And opulent with thy large use of it:
’Tis from free sowing that full harvest springs ”

“ It’s spirit-gold is shaped by earth’s alloy;
I would be friend and mother, mate and toy,
I’d have thee look to me for every pleasure,
And in me find all memories of joy.
Yet though I love thee in such selfish fashion,
I would wait on thee, sitting at thy feet,
And serving thee, if thou didst deem it meet.
And couldst thou give me one fond hour of passion,
I’d take that hour and call my life complete.
p. 54THE PÆAN OF PEACE With ever some wrong to be righting,
With self ever seeking for place,
The world has been striving and fighting
Since man was evolved out of space. ”

“ Are sparks from the great source of passion and power;
Throne reason above them, and give it control,
And turn into blessing this dangerous dower.
By lightnings unguided destruction is hurled,
But chained and directed they gladden the world.
p. 103THE ALL-CREATIVE SPARK Pain can go guised as joy, dross pass for gold,
Vulgarity can masquerade as wit,
Or spite wear friendship’s garments; but I hold
That passionate feeling has no counterfeit. ”

“ Went mad for a love that marred her name:
And out of the grave of her murdered faith
She rose like a soul that has passed through death.
Her aims are noble, her pity so broad,
It covers the world like the mercy of God.
p. 6A soother of discord, a healer of woes,
Peace follows her footsteps wherever she goes.
The worthier life of the two, no doubt,
And yet “Society” locks her out.
p. 7IT ALL WILL COME OUT RIGHT Whatever is a cruel wrong,
Whatever is unjust,
The honest years that speed along
Will trample in the dust. ”

“ Wilt thou bring thronging each hope and longing
That made the glory of that dead Time?
p. 44When the sap in the trees sets young buds bursting,
And the song of the birds fills the air like spray,
Will rivers of feeling come once more stealing
From the beautiful hills of the far-away? ”

“ Was love’s first kiss, as pure and true
As ever lips of maiden gave.
I think ’twill warm my lonely grave,
And light the pathway I must tread
Among the hapless, homeless dead.
“When God formed worlds, He failed to make
A path for erring feet to take
Back into light and peace again,
Unless they were the feet of men.
When woman errs, and then regrets,
Her sun of hope for ever sets,
And life is hung with deepest gloom.
In all the world there is no room
For such as she ”

“ The bard’s first ballad, written in his tears,
Set by his later toil, seems poor and tame,
And into nothing dwindles at the test.
So with the passions of maturer years.
Let those who will demand the first fond flame,
Give me the heart’s last love, for that is best.
p. 26LIFE’S TRACK This game of life is a dangerous play,
Each human soul must watch alway,
From the first to the very last.
I care not however strong and pure—
Let no man say he is perfectly sure
The dangerous reefs are past. ”

“ Yet great this age: its mighty work is man
Knowing himself, the universal life.
p. 22And great our faith, which shows itself in works
For human freedom and for racial good.
The true religion lies in being kind.
No age is greater than its faith is broad.
Through liberty and love men climb to God.
p. 23COULEUR DE ROSE I want more lives in which to love
This world so full of beauty,
I want more days to use the ways
I know of doing duty ”

“ An’ that infernal ticker spends money fur ’em quicker
Than any neighbourhood o’ men in good old bygone days.
p. 97The risin’ generation is bent so on creation,
Folks haven’t time to talk or sing or cry or even laugh.
But if you take the notion to want some such emotion,
They’ve got it all on tap fur you, right in the phonograph.
But now a crazy creature has introduced the feature
Of artificial weather, I think we’re nearly through.
For when we once go strainin’ to keep it dry or rainin’
To suit the general public, ’twill bust the world in two,
p. ”

“ For the dead who fought for the cause they thought
Was right, and who did not falter.
p. 87WHEN BABY SOULS SAIL OUT When from our mortal vision
Grown men and women go
To sail strange fields Elysian
And know what spirits know,
I think of them as tourists,
In some sun-gilded clime,
’Mong happy sights and dear delights
We all shall find, in time. ”

“ And the letters and credentials that was writ to Mr. Ayer
I’ve often on a rainy day found readin’ pretty fair.
p. 37I tried to buy one recently; there wa’n’t none in the city!
They toted out great calendars, in every shape and style.
I looked at ’em in cold disdain, and answered ’em in pity—
“I’d rather have my almanac than all that costly pile.”
And though I take to city life, I’m lonesome after all
For that old yellow almanac upon my kitchen wall. ”

“ And shriek, and rave, till their dissent is spent,
While listening gods laugh loud in merriment.
p. 105BE NOT CONTENT Be not content—contentment means inaction;
The growing soul aches on its upward quest;
Satiety is twin to satisfaction;
All great achievements spring from life’s unrest. ”

“ Pale, puny little world.
TURQUOISE A baby went to heaven while it slept,
And, waking, missed its mother’s arms, and wept.
Those angel tear-drops, falling earthward through
God’s azure skies, into the turquoise grew.
p. 92REFORM The time has come when men with hearts and brains
Must rise and take the misdirected reins
Of government ”

“ And call September nothing but September.
p. 96WAIL OF AN OLD-TIMER Each new invention doubles our worries an’ our troubles,
These scientific fellows are spoilin’ of our land;
With motor, wire, an’ cable, now’-days we’re scarcely able
To walk or ride in peace o’ mind, an’ ’tisn’t safe to stand.
It fairly makes me crazy to see how tarnal lazy
The risin’ generation grows—an’ science is to blame. ”