The Secret Of Prayer

For he who climbs to say his prayer
Meets half way the descending Grace.

ELSA BARKER, in British Review.

This is the secret of all prayers
    That in God's sight have worth,
They must be uttered from the stairs
    That wind away from earth;
And he who mounts to speak the word,
He shall be heard.    He shall be heard.

And he who will not leave himself,
    But stays down with his cares,
Or with his thoughts of pride and pelf,
    Though loud and long his prayers,
Beyond earth's dome of arching skies
They shall not rise.    They shall not rise.

Oh, ye who seek for strength and power
    Seek first some quiet spot,
And fashion through a silent hour
    Your stairway, thought by thought;
Then climb, and pray to God on high:
He shall reply.    He shall reply.

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'.

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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.

Prayer

I do not undertake to say
    That literal answers come from Heaven,
But I know this - that when I pray
    A comfort, a support is given
That helps me rise o'er earthly things
As larks soar up on airy wings.

In vain the wise philosopher
    Points out to me my fabric's flaws,
In vain the scientists aver
    That "all things are controlled by laws."
My life has taught me day by day
That it availeth much to pray.

I do not stop to reason out
    The why and how.    I do not care,
Since I know this, that when I doubt,
    Life seems a blackness of despair,
The world a tomb; and when I trust,
Sweet blossoms spring up in the dust.

Since I know in the darkest hour,
    If I lift up my soul in prayer,
Some sympathetic, loving Pow...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unanswered Prayers

Like some schoolmaster, kind in being stern,
Who hears the children crying o'er their slates
And calling, "Help me, master!" yet helps not,
Since in his silence and refusal lies
Their self-development, so God abides
Unheeding many prayers.    He is not deaf
To any cry sent up from earnest hearts;
He hears and strengthens when He must deny.
He sees us weeping over life's hard sums;
But should He give the key and dry our tears,
What would it profit us when school were done
And not one lesson mastered?

    What a world
Were this if all our prayers were answered.    Not
In famed Pandora's box were such vast ills
As lie in human hearts.    Should our desires,
Voiced one by one in prayer, ascend to God
And come back as events shaped to our wish,
What...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unanswered Prayers

Like some school master, kind in being stern,
Who hears the children crying o'er their slates
And calling, "Help me master!" yet helps not,
Since in his silence and refusal lies
Their self-development, so God abides
Unheeding many prayers. He is not deaf
To any cry sent up from earnest hearts,
He hears and strengthens when He must deny.
He sees us weeping over life's hard sums
But should He give the key and dry our tears
What would it profit us when school were done
And not one lesson mastered?

        What a world
Were this if all our prayers were answered. Not
In famed Pandora's box were such vast ills
As lie in human hearts. Should our desires
Voiced one by one in prayer ascend to God
And come back as events shaped to our wish
What chaos wou...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Tower-Room

There is a room serene and fair,
All palpitant with light and air;
Free from the dust, world's noise and fuss -
God's Tower-room in each of us.

Oh! many a stair our feet must press,
And climb from self to selflessness,
Before we reach that radiant room
Above the discord and the gloom.

So many, many stairs to climb,
But mount them gently - take your time;
Rise leisurely, nor strive to run -
Not so the mightiest feats are done.

Well doing of the little things:
Repression of the word that stings;
The tempest of the mind made still
By victory of the God-like will.

The hated task performed in love -
All these are stairs that wind above
The things that trouble and annoy,
Up to the Tower-room of joy.

Rise leisurely; t...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

God's Answer

Once in a time of trouble and of care
I dreamed I talked with God about my pain;
With sleepland courage, daring to complain
Of what I deemed ungracious and unfair.
'Lord, I have grovelled on my knees in prayer
    Hour after hour,' I cried; 'yet all in vain;
    No hand leads up to heights I would attain,
No path is shown me out of my despair.'

Then answered God:    'Three things I gave to thee -
    Clear brain, brave will, and strength of mind and heart,
    All implements divine, to shape the way.
Why shift the burden of thy toil on Me?
    Till to the utmost he has done his part
    With all his might, let no man DARE to pray.'

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Bridge Of Prayer

The bridge of prayer from heavenly heights suspended
    Unites the earth with spirit-realms in Space.
The interests of those separate worlds are blended
    For those whose feet turn often toward that place.

In troubled nights of sorrow and repining,
    When joy and hope seem sunk in dark despair,
We still may see above the shadows shining,
    The gleaming archway of the bridge of prayer.

From that fair height, our souls may lean and listen
    To sounds of music from the farther shore,
And through the vapours, sometimes dear eyes glisten
    Of loved ones who have hastened on before.

And angels come from their Celestial City -
    And meet us half way on the bridge of prayer.
God sends them forth, full of divinest pity
    To strengthen us for...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox