After

Over the din of battle,
Over the cannons' rattle,
Over the strident voices of men and their dying groans,
I hear the falling of thrones.

Out of the wild disorder
That spreads from border to border,
I see a new world rising from ashes of ancient towns;
And the rulers wear no crowns.

Over the blood-charged water,
Over the fields of slaughter,
Down to the hidden vaults of Time, where lie the worn-out things,
I see the passing of kings.

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

One By One

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

A Burial

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Little Queen.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Undiscovered Country

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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After

Over the din of battle,
Over the cannons' rattle,
Over the strident voices of men and their dying groans,
I hear the falling of thrones.

Out of the wild disorder
That spreads from border to border,
I see a new world rising from ashes of ancient towns;
And the Rulers wear no crowns.

Over the blood-charged water,
Over the fields of slaughter,
Down to the hidden vaults of Time, where lie the worn-out things
I see the passing of Kings.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Falling Of Thrones

Above the din of commerce, above the clamour and rattle
    Of labour disputing with riches, of Anarchists' threats and groans,
Above the hurry and hustle and roar of that bloodless battle,
    Where men are fighting for riches, I hear the falling of thrones.

I see no savage host, I hear no martial drumming,
    But down in the dust at our feet lie the useless crowns of kings;
And the mighty spirit of Progress is steadily coming, coming,
    And the flag of one republic abroad to the world he flings.

The Universal Republic, where worth, not birth, is royal;
    Where the lowliest born may climb on a self-made ladder to fame;
Where the highest and proudest born, if he be not true and loyal,
    Shall find no masking title to cover and gild his shame.

Not with the...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Awakening

I said, 'I will place my heart, my heart all broken,
    Beside the world's torn heart, that it may know
The comradeship of sorrow that is not spoken,
    But is carried on wings of all the winds that blow.
I will go homeless into homes of grieving,
    And find my own grief easier to be borne.'
So over menacing seas I went, believing
    Where all was mourning, I would cease to mourn.

And now I am here, close to the great world-sorrow,
    Here where each heart some mighty grief has known;
But from each suffering soul I seem to borrow
    A poignant pain that but augments my own.
The earth is like one vast tempestuous ocean,
    Where struggling beings fight for light and breath:
I feel their anguish, feel each keen emotion -
    Yet through it all, I KNOW T...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Trifles

Only a spar from a broken ship
    Washed in by a careless wave;
But it brought back the smile of a vanished lip,
    And his past peered out of the grave.

Only a leaf that an idle breeze
    Tossed at her passing feet;
But she seemed to stand under the dear old trees,
    And life again was sweet.

Only the bar of a tender strain
    They sang in days gone by;
But the old love woke in her heart again,
    The love they had sworn should die.

Only the breath of a faint perfume
    That floated up from a rose;
But the bolts slid back from a marble tomb,
    And I looked on a dear dead face.

Who vaunts the might of a human will,
    When a perfume or a sound
Can wake a Past that we bade lie still,
    And open a long closed w...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

When The Regiment Came Back

All the uniforms were blue, all the swords were bright and new,
    When the regiment went marching down the street,
All the men were hale and strong as they proudly moved along,
    Through the cheers that drowned the music of their feet.
Oh the music of the feet keeping time to drums that beat,
    Oh the splendour and the glitter of the sight,
As with swords and rifles new and in uniforms of blue
    The regiment went marching to the fight!

When the regiment came back all the guns and swords were black
    And the uniforms had faded out to gray,
And the faces of the men who marched through that street again
    Seemed like faces of the dead who lose their way.
For the dead who lose their way cannot look more wan and gray.
    Oh the sorrow and the pity of the sight,...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Alone In The House

I am all alone in the house to-night;
    They would not have gone away
Had they known of the terrible, bloodless fight
    I have held with my heart to-day.
With the old sweet love and the old fierce pain
    I have battled hour by hour;
But the fates have willed that the strife is vain.
Alone in the hour my thoughts have reign,
    And I yield myself to their power.

Yield myself to the old time charm
    Of a dream of vanished bliss,
The thrill of a voice, and the fold of an arm,
    And a red lip's lingering kiss.
It all comes back like a flowing tide;
    That brief, but beautiful day.
Though it oft is checked by the dam of pride,
Till the waters flow back to the other side,
    To-night it has broken away.

I gave you all that I had t...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox