Warning

High in the heavens I saw the moon this morning,
    Albeit the sun shone bright;
Unto my soul it spoke, in voice of warning,
    "Remember Night!"

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

Reverie

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

What Would It Be?

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Lais When Old

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Life And I

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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Warning.

High in the heavens I saw the moon this morning,
    Albeit the sun shone bright;
Unto my soul it spoke, in voice of warning,
        "Remember Night!"

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Night

Oh! give me the night, the dark, dark night,
    The night with never a star.
When the stars are veiled and the moon has sailed
    Beyond the horizon's bar.
When thought grows weary of groping its way
    Through darkness dense and deep,
And buries its head in oblivion's bed,
    Wrapped warm in the mantle of sleep.

For I hate the night, the moon-white night,
    The night with a pallid face,
When a million eyes from the watchful skies
    Peers into each secret place.
For thought awakes and the old wound aches,
    And Sorrow she cannot rest,
But all night long walks to and fro
    Through the aisles of my troubled breast.

And Memory thinks it her royal hour
    When the heavens glitter and shine;
And she fills the cup of the past well ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Sunset.

        I saw the day lean o'er the world's sharp edge
    And peer into night's chasm, dark and damp;
    High in his hand he held a blazing lamp,
        Then dropped it and plunged headlong down the ledge.

        With lurid splendor that swift paled to gray,
    I saw the dim skies suddenly flush bright.
    'Twas but the expiring glory of the light
        Flung from the hand of the adventurous day.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Good Night

The day is at its golden height,
    No shadow falls on sea or land;
And yet to thee I say Good night,
    As we stand here hand clasped in hand,
    Good night -Good night.

The laughing waves are summer blue,
    The bees hum in the sun's warm light;
But frosts of winter chill me through,
    I shiver as I say Good night.
    Good night -Good night.

How often at the close of day
    With smiling lips we've said those words:
And listened as we turned away
    To hear them echoed by the birds,
    Good night -Good night.

We did not dream then of this hour,
    This sad, sad hour for you and me;
We did not dream there was a power
    Could force us for eternity
    To say Good night.

Good night -nay, turn your eyes awa...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Wakeful Night

In the dark and the gloom when winds were fretting
    Like restless children worn out with play,
I said to my heart, 'This task, forgetting -
    Is harder now than it is by day.
For a hungry love that hides from the light,
Like a tiger steals forth, and is bold at night.'

The wind wailed low like a woman weeping;
    Deeper and darker the dense gloom grew.
And, oh! for the old, sweet nights of sleeping,
    When dreams were happy, and love was true.
Before the stars from heaven went out
In a sudden blackness of dread and doubt.

The wind wailed loud, like a madman shrieking,
    And I said to my heart, 'Oh! vain, vain strife;
We cannot forget, and the peace we are seeking
    Can only be won at the end of life.
For see! like a lurid and living spa...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Reincarnation

He slept as weary toilers do,
    She gazed up at the moon.
He stirred and said, "Wife, come to bed";
    She answered, "Soon, full soon."
(Oh! that strange mystery of the dead moon's face.)

Her cheek was wan, her wistful mouth
    Was lifted like a cup,
The moonful night dripped liquid light:
    She seemed to quaff it up.
(Oh! that unburied corpse that lies in space.)

Her life had held but drudgery -
    She spelled her Bible thro';
Of books and lore she knew no more
    Than little children do.
(Oh! the weird wonder of that pallid sphere.)

Her youth had been a loveless waste,
    Starred by no holiday.
And she had wed for roof, and bread;
    She gave her work in pay.
(Oh! the moon-memories, vague and strange and dear.)

Ella Wheeler Wilcox