Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“ But no strength went with it away;
His other grew full thrice as strong.
Few men, with their two hands, have done
As noble deeds as he with one.
His soul speaks through his eye of blue,
And all men know him one to trust,
Because his heart is kind and true,
And all his actions prove him just.
I speak for thousands when I cry,
"The people's favorite for aye!"
May God be with him all his days--
With him and all he holds most dear;
And if my little song of praise
Should chance to fall upon his ear,
May he accept the offering,
And know that from my heart I sing. ”

“ The face may be fairer you see to-night;
But never, love, while the stars shall shine;
Will you find a heart that is truer than mine.
Sometime, perhaps, when south winds blow,
You will think of a love you used to know;
Sometime, perhaps, when a robin sings,
Your heart will go back to olden things.
Sometime you will weary of this world's arts,
Of deceit and change and hollow hearts,
And, wearying, sigh for the "used to be,"
And your feet will turn to the porch, and me.
I shall watch for you here when days grow long;
I shall list for your step through the robin's song ”

“ He craves adventure, and thinks not of life.
But the scarred veteran knows the price of glory,
He does not court the conflict or the fray.
He has no longing to rehearse that gory
And most dramatic act, of war's dark play.
He who to love has always been a stranger
All unafraid may linger in your spell.
My heart has known the warfare, and its danger.
It craves no repetition--so farewell.
THE KINGDOM OF LOVE.
In the dawn of the day, when the sea and the earth
Reflected the sunrise above,
I set forth, with a heart full of courage and mirth,
To seek for the Kingdom of Love. ”

“ Waiting for me, is my sweetheart--my own.
She watches my wheel as it glitters and glistens
Down the steep crest of the daisy-starred hill.
Fair is her cheek as she waits there and listens
For the sure signal blown tenderly shrill.
Sweetheart, my sweetheart, I'm coming, I'm coming.
Here, sturdy steed, you may stand by the wall.
A bird to her mate has flown swift thro' the gloaming,
Love, youth and summer, thank God for them all. ”

“ And like a fire, that cheers, and lights, and blesses,
And floods a mansion full of happy heat,
So does the subtle warmth of your caresses,
Pervade me with rapture, keen as sweet.
And so sometimes, as you and I together
Exult in all dear love's three-fold delights,
I cannot help but vaguely wonder whether
When our freed souls attain their spirit heights,
E'en if we reach that upper realm where God is,
And find the tales of heavenly glory true,
I wonder if we shall not miss our bodies,
And long, at times, for hours on earth we knew. ”

“ And the leaves o' the trees, and the flowers and bees,
Would come back again, one by one.
That the great, gray clouds would vanish
And the sky turn tender and blue
And the sweet birds would sing, and talk of the spring,
And, love, it has all come true.
I told you that sorrow would fade love
And you would forget half your pain;
That the sweet bird of song would waken ere long,
And sing in your bosom again ”

“ Ere my heart's plummet sounded depths of pain,
I called on Reason to control my brain,
And scoffed at that old story of the Christ.
But when o'er burning wastes my feet had trod,
And all my life was desolate with loss,
With bleeding hands I clung about the cross,
And cried aloud, "Man needs a suffering God!"
ONE WOMAN'S PLEA.
Now God be with the men who stand
In Legislative halls, to-day.
Those chosen princes of our land--
May God be with them all, I say,
And may His wisdom, guide, and shield them,
For mighty is the trust we yield them.
Oh, men! ”

“ The wild beast quails 'neath the strong man's eye,
The avalanche passes the traveler by--
But who can rescue from passion's pyre
The hearts that were offered to feed its fire?
Ah! he who emerges from that fierce flame
Is scarred with sorrow or blackened with shame.
Battle and billow, and beast of prey,
They only threaten the mortal clay;
The soul unfettered can take to wing;
But the danger of love is another thing. ”

“ All my life, I never knew
Any other friend so true.
Youth and Love are fleeting things;
Wealth has light and airy wings--
Fame, once mine, will never flee,
She has been a friend to me.
Let who will condemn her ways,
I shall always sing her praise.
A MOTHER'S WAIL.
The sweet young spring walks over the earth,
It flushes and glows on moor and lea;
The birds are singing in careless mirth--
The brook flows cheerily on to the sea. ”

“ And so my song is ended; if you please,
Will Mr. Sherman--E. P.--pass the cheese?
OVER THE WATER.
Think of it, think of it over the water
Thousands of men to-day march on to death,
Think how the sun shines on fields red with slaughter--
How the air chokes, with the cannon's hot breath.
How in the shadows, perchance, of this even,
Hundreds of hearts, will have paused in their beat,
Pale, ghastly brows, will be turned up to heaven--
Brows that were pressed by lips, tender and sweet. ”

“ Believe in himself and the power behind
That stands like an aid on a dual ground,
With hope for the spirit and oil for the wound,
Ready to strengthen the arm or mind.
When the motive is right and the will is strong
There are no limits to human power;
For that great force back of us moves along
And takes us with it, in trial's hour.
And whatever the height you yearn to climb,
Tho' it never was trod by the foot of man,
And no matter how steep--I say you _can_,
If you will be patient-and use your time. ”

“ And with laughter and song we went speeding along
By the shores of life's beautiful sea.
Till we came to a valley more tropical far,
Than the wonderful Vale of Cashmere.
And I saw from a bower a face like a flower,
Smile out on the gay cavalier.
And he said: "We have come to humanity's goal--
Here love and delight are intense." ”

“ To hear one name, as if 'twere set in song.
In all my poems, written 'neath the sun,
To find the praises, o'er and o'er, in one.
To feel thyself a lesser part of what
Hadst thou not found, the earth would be as naught.
To think all beauty, perfectness and grace,
As but the shadow of one worshiped face.
With that face's coming, to bask in warmth and light
And with its going to grope, as in the night.
To rather feel a dear hand's stinging blow
Than any caress another might bestow. ”

“ Beneath my vest pocket, in what's called the heart.
For, as it happens, my name, too, is Will;
And that voice crying "darling" sent such a strange thrill
Throughout my whole being. "How nice it would be,"
Thought I, "if it were in reality me
That she's watched and longed for, instead of that lout." ”

“ Swift thro' the vapors and the golden mist--
The Full Moon's shadowy shape shone on the night,
The New Moon reached out clasping arms and kissed
Her phantom lover in the whole world's sight.
THE SOUL'S FAREWELL TO THE BODY.
So we must part forever. ”

“ THREE-FOLD.
Somewhere I've read a thoughtful mind's reflection:
"All perfect things are three-fold"; and I know
Our love has this rare symbol of perfection;
The brain's response, the warm blood's rapturous glow,
The soul's sweet language, silent and unspoken. ”

“ It steals from the household to fill up the graves.
Who loves it the most first falls by its art;
It first wins its victim--then strikes to the heart.
But one thing is certain--it never was known
To do a man harm if he let it alone. ”

“ He is more like a beast than a man with a soul.
Next door lives the husband who frets at his wife;
With his temper and spleen, she's no peace of her life.
Well I know--do you? he muddles his head
Every night with hot toddy, ere going to bed.
"We temperance croakers harp on the same strain?" ”

“ And red lips, warm with the kiss left there.
And she lingers as long as she can see
The man who walks, just ahead of me.
At night, when I come from my office, down town,
There stands the woman, with eyes of brown,
Smiling out through the window-blind,
At the man who comes strolling on behind.
This fellow and I resemble each other;
At least, so I'm told, by one and another.
(But I think I'm the handsomer, far, of the two.)
I don't know him at all, save to "how d'ye do,"
Or nod when I meet him. I think he's at work
In a dry goods store, as a salaried clerk. ”

“ Laid them near the ferns and mosses
'Neath the dear old parent stem;--
Deeply grieved that all things lovely
Must so soon forever die,--
That upon the gentle blue-bells
Winter's cold, deep snows must lie. ”

“ Cheese, savory subject! let me weave a song
Out of my merits, musical and strong.
Others may sing of green grass, if they please,
I sing of it in the useful form of cheese.
The world keeps moving. Now, it's upside down. ”

“ And sometime, _sometime_, I shall reap reward.
GROWING OLD.
Little by little the year grows old,
The red leaves drop from the maple boughs;
The sun grows dim, and the winds blow cold,
Down from the distant arctic seas. ”

“ Next, Jones kills his wife, such an awful affair!
She was throttled, and pounded, and drawn by the hair;
Cause--"Jones had been drinking--not in his sane mind."
(Few men _are_ who tip up the bottle, I find.)
Then, a man is assaulted and dirked in the dark
By two "jolly boys" who are out on a "lark;"
They have ever been peaceable boys--but, you see,
They drank, and "were hardly themselves" on this spree.
Just over the street lives the man who is known
To be honest and kind, when he lets drink alone ”

“ A new life springs from out the dead
And with the speaking of a name--
A breath upon the marriage bed,
She finds herself a something new.
"Where lay the shallows of the maid
No plummet line the wife can sound ”

“ THE KINGDOM OF LOVE
LOVE WILL WANE
THREE-FOLD
A MAIDEN'S SECRET
LINES FROM "MAURINE"
ART AND LOVE
ONE WOMAN'S HISTORY
WHY THE SPRING IS LATE
RIVER AND SEA
LOVE
IN THE GARDEN
WHEN YOU GO AWAY
LINES ON H--'S FOOT
A BABY IN THE HOUSE
RESIGNED
IN FAITH
I TOLD YOU
LOST
ONLY A SAD MISTAKE
SONG OF THE WHEELMAN
"THE OLD MOON IN THE NEW MOON'S ARMS"
THE SOUL'S FAREWELL TO THE BODY ”

“ And saved the day by his speed.
(When the above verse, which had been improvised on half of a Programme by Miss Wheeler, during the progress of the exercises, was read, it created wild enthusiasm, and led the loud calls for Sheridan, who came to the front of the platform, where he was received with loud applause and bowed his acknowledgments.)
Then go over the ground to-day, boys,
Tread each remembered spot. ”