Song

O praise me not with your lips, dear one!
    Though your tender words I prize.
But dearer by far is the soulful gaze
    Of your eyes, your beautiful eyes
    Your tender, loving eyes.

O chide me not with your lips, dear one!
    Though I cause your bosom sighs.
You can make repentance deeper far
    By your sad, reproving eyes,
    Your sorrowful, troubled eyes.

Words, at the best, are but hollow sounds;
    Above, in the beaming skies,
The constant stars say never a word,
    But only smile with their eyes -
    Smile on with their lustrous eyes.

Then breathe no vow with your lips, dear one;
    On the winged wind speech flies.
But I read the truth of your noble heart
    In your soulful, speaking eyes -
    In your deep and beautiful eyes.

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

Sorry

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Greater Britain

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The All-Creative Spark

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Undiscovered Country

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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Song. (Excerpt from "Maurine")

        O praise me not with your lips, dear one!
    Though your tender words I prize.
        But dearer by far is the soulful gaze
    Of your eyes, your beautiful eyes,
        Your tender, loving eyes.

        O chide me not with your lips, dear one!
    Though I cause your bosom sighs.
        You can make repentance deeper far
    By your sad, reproving eyes,
        Your sorrowful, troubled eyes.

        Words, at the best, are but hollow sounds;
    Above, in the beaming skies,
        The constant stars say never a word,
    But only smile with their eyes -
        Smile on with their lustrous eyes.

        Then breathe no vow with your lips, dear one;
    On the wingèd wind speech flies.
        But I read the truth of your no...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Delilah.

        In the midnight of darkness and terror,
    When I would grope nearer to God,
        With my back to a record of error
    And the highway of sin I have trod,
        There come to me shapes I would banish -
    The shapes of the deeds I have done;
        And I pray and I plead till they vanish -
    All vanish and leave me, save one.

        That one with a smile like the splendor
    Of the sun in the middle-day skies -
        That one with a spell that is tender -
    That one with a dream in her eyes -
        Cometh close, in her rare Southern beauty,
    Her languor, her indolent grace;
        And my soul turns its back on its duty,
    To live in the light of her face.

        She touches my cheek, and I quiver -
    I tremb...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Through Dim Eyes

Is it the world, or my eyes, that are sadder?
I see not the grace that I used to see
In the meadow-brook whose song was so glad, or
In the boughs of the willow tree.
The brook runs slower - its song seems lower
And not the song that it sang of old;
And the tree I admired looks weary and tired
Of the changeless story of heat and cold.

When the sun goes up, and the stars go under,
In that supreme hour of the breaking day,
Is it my eyes, or the dawn, I wonder,
That finds less of the gold, and more of the gray
I see not the splendour, the tints so tender,
The rose-hued glory I used to see;
And I often borrow a vague half-sorrow
That another morning has dawned for me.

When the royal smile of that welcome comer
Beams on the meadow and burns in the s...

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

Dust-Sealed.

I know not wherefore, but mine eyes
    See bloom, where other eyes see blight.
They find a rainbow, a sunrise,
    Where others but discern deep night.

Men call me an enthusiast,
    And say I look through gilded haze:
Because where'er my gaze is cast,
    I see some thing that calls for praise.

I say, "Behold those lovely eyes -
    That tinted cheek of flower-like grace."
They answer in amused surprise:
    "We thought it such a common face."

I say, "Was ever scene more fair?
    I seem to walk in Eden's bowers."
They answer with a pitying air,
    "The weeds are choking out the flowers."

I know not wherefore, but God lent
    A deeper vision to my sight.
On whatsoe'er my gaze is bent
    I catch the beauty Infinite;

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Meditations - His

I was so proud of you last night, dear girl,
While man with man was striving for your smile.
You never lost your head, nor once dropped down
From your high place
As queen in that gay whirl.

(It takes more poise to wear a little crown
With modesty and grace
Than to adorn the lordlier thrones of earth.)

You seem so free from artifice and wile:
And in your eyes I read
Encouragement to my unspoken thought.
My heart is eloquent with words to plead
Its cause of passion; but my questioning mind,
Knowing how love is blind,
Dwells on the pros and cons, and God knows what.

My heart cries with each beat,
'She is so beautiful, so pure, so sweet,
So more than dear.'
And then I hear
The voice of Reason, asking:    'Would she meet
Life's...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox