Words

Words are great forces in the realm of life:
    Be careful of their use.    Who talks of hate,
Of poverty, of sickness, but sets rife
    These very elements to mar his fate.

When love, health, happiness, and plenty hear
    Their names repeated over day by day,
They wing their way like answering fairies near,
    Then nestle down within our homes to stay.

Who talks of evil conjures into shape
    The formless thing and gives it life and scope.
This is the law:    then let no word escape
    That does not breathe of everlasting hope.

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

The Tulip Bed At Greeley Square

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Noon

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

At Bay

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

To An Astrologer

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

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The Word

Oh, a word is a gem, or a stone, or a song,
    Or a flame, or a two-edged sword;
Or a rose in bloom, or a sweet perfume,
    Or a drop of gall, is a word.

You may choose your word like a connoisseur,
    And polish it up with art,
But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays,
    Is the word that comes from the heart.

You may work on your word a thousand weeks,
    But it will not glow like one
That all unsought, leaps forth white hot,
    When the fountains of feeling run.

You may hammer away on the anvil of thought,
    And fashion your word with care,
But unless you are stirred to the depths, that word
    Shall die on the empty air.

For the word that comes from the brain alone,
    Alone to the brain will speed;
But the ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The Law

The tide of love swells in me with such force,
    It sweeps away all hate and all distrust.
As eddying straws and particles of dust
    Are lost by some swift river in its course.

So much I love my friends, my life, my art,
    Each shadow flies; the light dispels the gloom.
Love is so fair, I find I have no room
    For anything less worthy in my heart.

Love is a germ which we can cultivate -
    To grace and perfume sweeter than the rose,
Or leave neglected while our heart soil grows
    Rank with that vile and poison thistle, hate.

Love is a joyous thrush, that one can teach
    To sing sweet lute-like songs which all may hear.
Or we can silence him and tune the ear
    To caw of crows, or to the vulture's screech.

Love is a feast; ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Thoughts

Thoughts do not need the wings of words
    To fly to any goal.
Like subtle lightnings, not like birds,
    They speed from soul to soul.

Hide in your heart a bitter thought -
    Still it has power to blight;
Think Love -although you speak it not
    It gives the world more light.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Life Is Love

Is anyone sad in the world, I wonder?
    Does anyone weep on a day like this,
With the sun above and the green earth under?
    Why, what is life but a dream of bliss?

With the sun and the skies and the birds above me,
    Birds that sing as they wheel and fly -
With the winds to follow and say they loved me -
    Who could be lonely?    O ho, not I!

Somebody said in the street this morning,
    As I opened my window to let in the light,
That the darkest day of the world was dawning;
    But I looked, and the East was a gorgeous sight

One who claims that he knows about it
    Tells me the Earth is a vale of sin;
But I and the bees and the birds - we doubt it,
    And think it a world worth living in.

Someone says that hearts are fickle...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Love's Language.

    How does Love speak?
        In the faint flush upon the tell-tale cheek,
        And in the pallor that succeeds it; by
        The quivering lid of an averted eye -
        The smile that proves the patent to a sigh -
    Thus doth Love speak.

    How does Love speak?
        By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak
        Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache,
        While new emotions, like strange barges, make
        Along vein-channels their disturbing course;
        Still as the dawn, and with the dawn's swift force -
    Thus doth Love speak.

    How does Love speak?
        In the avoidance of that which we seek -
        The sudden silence and reserve when near -
        The eye that glistens with an unshed tear -
   ...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Love's Way

Love gives us copious potions of delight,
    Of pain and ecstasy, and peace and care;
Love leads us upward, to the mountain height,
    And, like an angel, stands beside us there;
Then thrusts us, demon-like, in some abyss:
    Where, in the darkness of despair, we grope,
Till, suddenly, Love greets us with a kiss
    And guides us back to flowery fields of hope.

Love makes all wisdom seem but poorest folly,
    And yet the simplest mind with Love grows wise,
The gayest heart he teaches melancholy,
    Yet glorifies the erstwhile brooding eyes.
Love lives on change, and yet at change Love mocks,
    For Love's whole life is one great paradox.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox