Deep Unto Deep Was Calling

They rode through the bannered city -
The King and the Commoner,
And the hopes of the world were with them,
And the heart of the world was astir.
For the moss-grown walls seemed falling
That have shut away men from Kings;
And Deep unto Deep was calling
For the coming of greater things.

They rode to an age-old Palace
Where the feet of the Mighty go -
(A Palace that stands unshaken
Despite the boast of the foe!)
And the King from Kings descending -
And the Man of the People's choice
In a Super-Man seemed blending,
And they spoke as with one voice.

And one voice now and for ever
Will speak from sea to sea,
Wherever the British Banner
And the Starry Flag float free.
For our fettering chains are sundered
By the evil that turned to good,
And Deep unto Deep has thundered
Its message of Brotherhood.

It was not a pageant of Victors -
Or a triumph hour of man,
That ride through the bannered City,
It was part of a Mighty Plan;
And the sound of old barriers falling
Rose there where those Rulers trod,
For Deep unto Deep was calling
In the resonant Voice of God.

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

He That Looketh

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Common Lot.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Desolation.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Two Glasses

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.

Coronation Poem And Prayer

The world has crowned a thousand kings:
    But destiny has kept
Her weightiest hour of kingly power
    To offer England's son.
The rising bell of Progress rings;
    And Truths which long have slept,
Like prophets strange, predicting change,
    Before Time's chariot run.

The greatest Empire of the Earth.
    Old England proudly stands.
Like arteries her Colonies
    Reach out from sea to sea.
She clasps all races in her girth;
    Her gaze the world commands;
And far and wide where strong ships ride,
    The British Flag floats free.

Oh, never since the stars began
    Their round of Cosmic law,
And souls evolved in ways unsolved,
    And kingdoms reached their prime
Has Destiny held out to Man
    A gift so full of awe,...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

How Long?

    How long, and yet how long,
Our leaders will we hail from over seas,
Master and kings from feudal monarchies,
    And mock their ancient song
With echoes weak of foreign melodies?


    That distant isle mist-wreathed,
Mantled in unimaginable green,
Too long hath been our mistress and our queen.
    Our fathers have bequeathed
Too deep a love for her, our hearts within.


    She made the whole world ring
With the brave exploits of her children strong,
And with the matchless music of her song.
    Too late, too late we cling
To alien legends, and their strains prolong.


    This fresh young world I see,
With heroes, cities, legends of her own;
With a new race of men, and overblown
    By winds from sea to sea,
...

Emma Lazarus

Ode To The British Fleet

'Invisible and silent' - Mystery
Surrounded that great Guardian of the Sea.
That Father - Mother - of the mighty main.
While loud in valley and on field and hill -
And over anguished plain
The battles thundered.    God himself is still
And hidden from men's view; and it were meet
That this subliminal force
Should move in utter silence on its course
Invisible - Inaudible - till that hour
When Time, Fate's Minister, should speak and say -
'Come forth! and show thy power!'
When Time commands, even the gods obey.

'Invisible and silent'; yet the foe
Was driven from the Sea.    All impotent
The brazen braggart went.
While commerce sent her brave ships to and fro;
And from Columbia's shores there sailed away
Ten thousand men a day -
Ten thousand ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Phantom Fleet

(1904)


The sunset lingered in the pale green West:
    In rosy wastes the low soft evening star
Woke; while the last white sea-mew sought for rest;
    And tawny sails came stealing o'er the bar.

But, in the hillside cottage, through the panes
    The light streamed like a thin far trumpet-call,
And quickened, as with quivering battle-stains,
    The printed ships that decked the parlour wall.

From oaken frames old admirals looked down:
    They saw the lonely slumberer at their feet:
They saw the paper, headed Talk from Town;
    Our rusting trident, and our phantom fleet:

And from a neighbouring tavern surged a song
    Of England laughing in the face of war,
With eyes unconquerably proud and strong,
    And lips triumpha...

Alfred Noyes

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 Voice

I dreamed a Voice, of one God-authorised,
Cried loudly thro' the world, 'Disarm!    Disarm!'
And there was consternation in the camps;
And men who strutted under braid and lace
Beat on their medalled breasts, and wailed, 'Undone!'
The word was echoed from a thousand hills,
And shop and mill, and factory and forge,
Where throve the awful industries of death,
Hushed into silence.    Scrawled upon the doors,
The passer read, 'Peace bids her children starve.'
But foolish women clasped their little sons
And wept for joy, not reasoning like men.

Again the Voice commanded:    'Now go forth
And build a world for Progress and for Peace.
This work has waited since the earth was shaped;
But men were fighting, and they could not toil.
The needs of life outnumber nee...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox