Wishes For A Little Girl

What would I ask the kindly fates to give
    To crown her life, if I could have my way?
My strongest wishes would be negative,
    If they would but obey.

Give her not greatness.    For great souls must stand
    Alone and lonely in this little world:
Cleft rocks that show the great Creator's hand,
    Thither by earthquakes hurled.

Give her not genius.    Spare her the cruel pain
    Of finding her whole life a prey for daws;
Of hearing with quickened sense and burning brain
    The world's sneer-tinged applause.

Give her not perfect beauty's gifts.    For then
    Her truthful mirror would infuse her mind
With love for self, and for the praise of men,
    That lowers woman-kind.

But make her fair and comely to the sight,
    Give her more heart than brain, more love than pride.
Let her be tender-thoughted, cheerful, bright,
    Some strong man's star and guide.

Not vainly questioning why she was sent
    Into this restless world of toil and strife,
Let her go bravely on her way, content
    To make the best of life.

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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The Wish

Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,
    "Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the start,
But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,
    Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy heart."

This were my wish! from my life's dim beginning
    Let be what has been! wisdom planned the whole;
My want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,
    All, all were needed lessons for my soul.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Wish

Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,
    "Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the start,
But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,
    Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy heart."

This were my wish! - from my life's dim beginning
    LET BE WHAT HAS BEEN! wisdom planned the whole
My want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,
    All, all were needed lessons for my soul.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Wishes

Whatever you want, if you wish for it long,
    With constant yearning and fervent desire,
If your wish soars upward on wings so strong
    That they never grow languid and never tire, -

Why, over the storm clouds and out of the dark
    It shall come flying some day to you.
As the dove with the olive branch flew to the ark,
    And the dream you have cherished -it shall come true.

But lest much rapture shall make you mad,
    Or too bright sunshine should strike you blind,
Along with your blessing a something sad
    Shall come like a shadow that follows behind.

Something unwelcome and unforeseen,
    Yet of your hope and your wish, a part,
Shall stand like a sentinel in between
    The perfect joy and the human heart.

I wished for a c...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Completion

When I shall meet God's generous dispensers
    Of all the riches in the heavenly store,
Those lesser gods, who act as Recompensers
    For loneliness and loss upon this shore,
Methinks abashed, and somewhat hesitating,
    My soul its wish and longing will declare.
Lest they reply:    'Here are no bounties waiting:
    We gave on earth, your portion and your share.'

Then shall I answer:    'Yea, I do remember
    The many blessings to my life allowed;
My June was always longer than December,
    My sun was always stronger than my cloud,
My joy was ever deeper than my sorrow,
    My gain was ever greater than my loss,
My yesterday seemed less than my to-morrow,
    The crown looked always larger than the cross.

'I have known love, in all its radian...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Wishing

Do you wish the world were better?
    Let me tell you what to do:
Set a watch upon your actions,
    Keep them always straight and true;
Rid your mind of selfish motives;
    Let your thoughts be clean and high.
You can make a little Eden
    Of the sphere you occupy.

Do you wish the world were wiser?
    Well, suppose you make a start,
By accumulating wisdom
    In the scrapbook of your heart:
Do not waste one page on folly;
    Live to learn, and learn to live.
If you want to give men knowledge
    You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?
    Then remember day by day
Just to scatter seeds of kindness
    As you pass along the way;
For the pleasures of the many
    May be ofttimes traced to one,

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

A Wish

Great dignity ever attends great grief,
And silently walks beside it;
And I always know when I see such woe
That Invisible Helpers guide it.
And I know deep sorrow is like a tide,
It cannot ever be flowing;
The high-water mark in the night and the dark -
Then dawn, and the outward going.

But the people who pull at my heart-strings hard
Are the ones whom destiny hurries
Through commonplace ways to the end of their days,
And pesters with paltry worries.
The peddlers who trudge with a budget of wares
To the door that is slammed unkindly;
The vendor who stands with his shop in his hands
Where the hastening hosts pass blindly;

The woman who holds in her poor flat purse
The price of her rent-room only,
While her starved eye feeds on the comfort...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox