But One.

        The year has but one June, dear friend;
    The year has but one June;
        And when that perfect month doth end,
        The robin's song, though loud, though long,
    Seems never quite in tune.

        The rose, though still its blushing face
    By bee and bird is seen,
        May yet have lost that subtle grace -
        That nameless spell the winds know
    Which makes it garden's queen.

        Life's perfect June, love's red, red rose,
    Have burned and bloomed for me.
        Though still youth's summer sunlight glows;
        Though thou art kind, dear friend, I find
    I have no heart for thee.

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

Justice

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

A Holiday

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Tavern Of Last Times (At Box Hill, Surrey)

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Love Thyself Last

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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

Midsummer.

After the May time, and after the June time
    Rare with blossoms and perfumes sweet,
Cometh the round world's royal noon time,
    The red midsummer of blazing heat.
When the sun, like an eye that never closes,
    Bends on the earth its fervid gaze,
And the winds are still, and the crimson roses
    Droop and wither and die in its rays.

Unto my heart has come that season,
    O my lady, my worshiped one,
When over the stars of Pride and Reason
    Sails Love's cloudless, noonday sun.
Like a great red ball in my bosom burning
    With fires that nothing can quench or tame.
It glows till my heart itself seems turning
    Into a liquid lake of flame.

The hopes half shy, and the sighs all tender,
    The dreams and fears of an earlier day,

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Midsummer

After the May time, and after the June time,
    Rare with blossoms and perfumes sweet,
Cometh the round world's royal noon time,
    The red midsummer of blazing heat.
When the sun, like an eye that never closes,
    Bends on the earth its fervid gaze,
And the winds are still, and the crimson roses
    Droop and wither and die in its rays.

Unto my heart has come that season,
    O my lady, my worshipped one,
When over the stars of Pride and Reason
    Sails Love's cloudless, noonday sun.
Like a great red ball in my bosom burning
    With fires that nothing can quench or tame.
It glows till my heart itself seems turning
    Into a liquid lake of flame.

The hopes half shy, and the sighs all tender,
    The dreams and fears of an earlier day,

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

No Song

These summer days when all the poets sing
    I have no voice for song.
I see the birds of summer taking wing,
    And days so sweet and long,
Each seemed a little heaven with no end,
I know are gone for evermore, dear friend.

Nay, by and by comes another Spring;
    And long, sweet, perfect days.
And by and by I shall have voice to sing
    My old glad, happy lays.
More blithesome songs, more days that have no end;
More golden summers; but like thee no friend.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Girl's Autumn Reverie

We plucked a red rose, you and I,
    All in the summer weather;
Sweet its perfume and rare its bloom,
    Enjoyed by us together.
The rose is dead, the summer fled,
    And bleak winds are complaining;
We dwell apart, but in each heart
    We find the thorn remaining.

We sipped a sweet wine, you and I,
    All in the summer weather.
The beaded draught we lightly quaffed,
    And filled the glass together.
Together we watched its rosy glow,
    And saw its bubbles glitter;
Apart, alone we only know
    The lees are very bitter.

We walked in sunshine, you and I,
    All in the summer weather:
The very night seemed noonday bright,
    When we two were together.
I wonder why with our good-bye
    O'er hill and vale and meadow<...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unrest.

In the youth of the year, when the birds were building,
    When the green was showing on tree and hedge,
And the tenderest light of all lights was gilding
    The world from zenith to outermost edge,
My soul grew sad and longingly lonely!
    I sighed for the season of sun and rose,
And I said, "In the Summer and that time only
    Lies sweet contentment and blest repose."

With bee and bird for her maids of honor
    Came Princess Summer in robes of green.
And the King of day smiled down upon her
    And wooed her, and won her, and made her queen.
Fruit of their union and true love's pledges,
    Beautiful roses bloomed day by day,
And rambled in gardens and hid in hedges
    Like royal children in sportive play.

My restless soul for a little seas...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unrest

In the youth of the year, when the birds were building,
    When the green was showing on tree and hedge,
And the tenderest light of all lights was gilding
    The world from zenith to outermost edge,
My soul grew sad and longingly lonely!
    I sighed for the season of sun and rose,
And I said, "In the Summer and that time only
    Lies sweet contentment and blest repose."

With bee and bird for her maids of honour
    Came Princess Summer in robes of green.
And the King of day smiled down upon her
    And wooed her, and won her, and made her queen.
Fruit of their union and true love's pledges,
    Beautiful roses bloomed day by day,
And rambled in gardens and hid in hedges
    Like royal children in sportive play.

My restless soul for a little sea...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox