A Suggestion

As I go and shop, sir!
If a car I stop, sir!
    Where you chance to sit,
And you want to read, sir!
Never mind or heed, sir!
    I'll not care a bit.

For it's now aesthetic
To be quite athletic.
    That's our fad, you know.
I can hold the strap, sir!
And keep off your lap, sir!
    As we jolting go.

If you read on blindly,
I shall take it kindly,
    All the car's not mine.
But, if you sit and stare, sir!
At my eyes and hair, sir!
    I must draw the line.

If the stare is meant, sir!
For a compliment, sir!
    As we jog through town,
Allow me to suggest, sir!
A woman oft looks best, sir!
    When she's sitting down.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet, born on November 5, 1850, and died on October 30, 1919. She was known for her works expressing optimistic views and moral lessons. Her most famous book was 'Poems of Passion'. Her poem 'Solitude' contains the famous lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone'. Over her career, Wilcox became popularly known as a 'people's poet'.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Decadent

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Traveller

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Unrest.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Forecast

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Aesthetic

In a garb that was guiltless of colours
    She stood, with a dull, listless air -
A creature of dumps and of dolours,
    But most undeniably fair.

The folds of her garment fell round her,
    Revealing the curve of each limb;
Well proportioned and graceful I found her,
    Although quite alarmingly slim.

From the hem of her robe peeped one sandal -
    "High art" was she down to her feet;
And though I could not understand all
    She said, I could see she was sweet.

Impressed by her limpness and languor,
    I proffered a chair near at hand;
She looked back a mild sort of anger -
    Posed anew, and continued to stand.

Some praises I next tried to mutter
    Of the fan that she held to her face;
She said it was "utterly utte...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Aesthetic.

In a garb that was guiltless of colors
    She stood, with a dull, listless air -
A creature of dumps and of dolors,
    But most undeniably fair.

The folds of her garment fell round her,
    Revealing the curve of each limb;
Well proportioned and graceful I found her,
    Although quite alarmingly slim.

From the hem of her robe peeped one sandal -
    "High art" was she down to her feet;
And though I could not understand all
    She said, I could see she was sweet.

Impressed by her limpness and languor,
    I proffered a chair near at hand;
She looked back a mild sort of anger -
    Posed anew, and continued to stand.

Some praises I next tried to mutter
    Of the fan that she held to her face;
She said it was "utterly utter,...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Advice.

I must do as you do? Your way I own
    Is a very good way. And still,
There are sometimes two straight roads to a town,
    One over, one under the hill.

You are treading the safe and the well-worn way,
    That the prudent choose each time;
And you think me reckless and rash to-day,
    Because I prefer to climb.

Your path is the right one, and so is mine.
    We are not like peas in a pod,
Compelled to lie in a certain line,
    Or else be scattered abroad.

'Twere a dull old world, methinks, my friend,
    If we all went just one way;
Yet our paths will meet no doubt at the end,
    Though they lead apart to-day.

You like the shade, and I like the sun;
    You like an even pace,
I like to mix with the crowd and run,
  ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

When My Sweet Lady Sings

When she, my lady, smiles,
I feel as one who, lost in darksome wilds,
Sees suddenly the sun in middle sky
Shining upon him like a great glad eye.
    When my sweet lady smiles.

When she, my lady laughs,
I feel as one who some elixir quaffs;
Some nameless nectar, made of wines of suns,
And through my veins a subtle iveresse runs.
    When my sweet lady laughs.

And when my lady talks,
I am as one who by a brooklet walks,
Some sweet-tongued brooklet, which the whole long day,
Holds converse with the birds along the way.
    When my loved lady talks.

And when my lady sings,
Oh then I hear the beat of silver wings;
All that is earthly from beneath me slips,
And in the liquid cadence of her lips
I float, so near the Infinite, I seem<...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

An Afternoon

I am stirred by the dream of an afternoon
Of a perfect day - though it was not June;
The lilt of winds, and the droning tune
    That a busy city was humming.

And a bronze-brown head, and lips like wine
Leaning out through the window-vine
A-list for steps that were maybe mine -
    Eager steps that were coming.

I can see it all, as a dreamer may -
The tender smile on your lips that day,
And the glow on your cheek as we rode away
    Into the golden weather.

And a love-light shone in your eyes of brown -
I swear there did! - as we drove down
The crowded avenue out of the town,
    Through shadowy lanes, together:

Drove out into the sunset-skies
That glowed with wonderful crimson dyes;
And with soul and spirit, and heart and eye...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Preaching vs. Practice

It is easy to sit in the sunshine
    And talk to the man in the shade;
It is easy to float in a well-trimmed boat,
    And point out the places to wade.

But once we pass into the shadows,
    We murmur and fret and frown,
And, our length from the bank, we shout for a plank,
    Or throw up our hands and go down.

It is easy to sit in your carriage,
    And counsel the man on foot,
But get down and walk, and you'll change your talk,
    As you feel the peg in your boot.

It is easy to tell the toiler
    How best he can carry his pack,
But no one can rate a burden's weight
    Until it has been on his back.

The up-curled mouth of pleasure,
    Can prate of sorrow's worth,
But give it a sip, and a wryer lip,
    Was never ma...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox