Bound And Free

Come to me, Love!    Come on the wings of the wind!
    Fly as the ring-dove would fly to his mate!
Leave all your cares and your sorrows behind!
    Leave all the fears of your future to Fate!
Come! and our skies shall be glad with the gold
    That paled into gray when you parted from me.
Come! but remember that, just as of old,
    You must be bound, Love, and I must be free.

Life has lost savour since you and I parted;
    I have been lonely, and you have been sad.
Youth is too brief to be sorrowful-hearted -
    Come! and again let us laugh and be glad.
Lips should not sigh that are fashioned to kiss -
    Breasts should not ache that joy's secrets have found.
Come! but remember, in spite of all this,
    I must be free, Love, while you must be bound.

You must be bound to be true while you live,
    And I keep my freedom for ever, as now.
You must ask only for that which I give -
    Kisses and love-words, but never a vow.
Come!    I am lonely, and long for your smile,
    Bring back the lost lovely Summer to me!
Come! but remember, remember the while,
    That you must be bound, Love, and I must be free.

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

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Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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Dear love, if you and I could sail away,
    With snowy pennons to the winds unfurled,
Across the waters of some unknown bay,
    And find some island far from all the world;

If we could dwell there, evermore alone,
    While unrecorded years slip by apace,
Forgetting and forgotten and unknown
    By aught save native song-birds of the place;

If Winter never visited that land,
    And Summer's lap spilled o'er with fruits and flowers,
And tropic trees cast shade on every hand,
    And twined boughs formed sleep-inviting bowers;

If from the fashions of the world set free,
    And hid away from all its jealous strife,
I lived alone for you, and you for me -
    Ah! then, dear love, how sweet were wedded life.

But since we dwell here in th...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

If.

Dear love, if you and I could sail away,
    With snowy pennons to the winds unfurled,
Across the waters of some unknown bay,
    And find some island far from all the world;

If we could dwell there, ever more alone,
    While unrecorded years slip by apace,
Forgetting and forgotten and unknown
    By aught save native song-birds of the place;

If Winter never visited that land,
    And Summer's lap spilled o'er with fruits and flowers,
And tropic trees cast shade on every hand,
    And twinèd boughs formed sleep-inviting bowers;

If from the fashions of the world set free,
    And hid away from all its jealous strife,
I lived alone for you, and you for me -
    Ah! then, dear love, how sweet were wedded life.

But since we dwell here in t...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Reunited.

        Let us begin, dear love, where we left off;
    Tie up the broken threads of that old dream,
    And go on happy as before, and seem
        Lovers again, though all the world may scoff.

        Let us forget the graves which lie between
    Our parting and our meeting, and the tears
    That rusted out the gold-work of the years,
        The frosts that fell upon our gardens green.

        Let us forget the cold, malicious Fate
    Who made our loving hearts her idle toys,
    And once more revel in the old sweet joys
        Of happy love. Nay, it is not too late!

        Forget the deep-ploughed furrows in my brow;
    Forget the silver gleaming in my hair;
    Look only in my eyes! Oh! darling, there
        The old love shone no warme...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

An Old Man To His Sleeping Young Bride

As when the old moon lighted by the tender
    And radiant crescent of the new is seen,
And for a moment's space suggests the splendor
    Of what in its full prime it once has been,
So on my waning years you cast the glory
    Of youth and pleasure, for a little hour;
And life again seems like an unread story,
    And joy and hope both stir me with their power.

Can blooming June be fond of bleak December?
    I dare not wait to hear my heart reply.
I will forget the question -and remember
    Alone the priceless feast spread for mine eye,
That radiant hair that flows across the pillows,
    Like shimmering sunbeams over drifts of snow;
Those heaving breasts, like undulating billows,
    Whose dangers or delights but Love can know.

That crimson mou...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Parting

Lean down, and kiss me, O my love, my own;
    The day is near when thy fond heart will miss me;
And o'er my low green bed, with bitter moan,
    Thou wilt lean down, but cannot clasp or kiss me.

How strange it is, that I, so loving thee,
    And knowing we must part, perchance to-morrow,
Do comfort find, thinking how great will be
    Thy lonely desolation, and thy sorrow.

And stranger -sadder, O mine own other part,
    That I should grudge thee some surcease of weeping;
Why do I not rejoice, that in thy heart,
    Sweet love will bloom again when I am sleeping?

Nay, make no promise.    I would place no bar
    Upon thy future, even wouldst thou let me.
Thou hast, thou dost, well love me, like a man:
    And, like a man, in time thou wilt forget...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Together

We two in the fever, and fervour, and glow
    Of life's high tide have rejoiced together.
We have looked out over the glittering snow,
    And known we were dwelling in summer weather.
For the seasons are made by the heart, I hold,
    And not by the outdoor heat or cold.

We two in the shadows of pain and fear
    Have journeyed together in dim, dark places,
Where black-robed sorrow walked to and fro,
    And fear and trouble with phantom faces
Peered out upon us, and froze our blood,
    Though June's fair roses were all in bud.

We two have measured all depths, all heights;
    We have bathed in tears, we have sunned in laughter;
We have known all sorrow, and all delights,
    They never could keep us apart hereafter.
Wherever your spirit was sen...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox