Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Isaura

Isaura


Dost thou not tire, Isaura, of this play?
'What play?' Why, this old play of winning hearts!
Nay, now, lift not thine eyes in that feigned w…

452
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

It Might Have Been

It Might Have Been

We will be what we could be. Do not say,
'It might have been, had not this, or that, or this.'
No fate can keep us from the chosen way…

402
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Is It Best?

Is It Best?

O mother who sips sweetened liquors!
Look down at the child on your breast;
Think, think of the rough path before him,
And ask yourself…

340
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Into The World

Into The World

Out over childhood's borders,
Manhood's brave banners unfurled,
Weighed down with precepts and orders
A boy has gone into the world.…

405
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Independence Ode

Independence Ode

Columbia, fair queen in your glory!
Columbia, the pride of the earth!
We crown you with song- wreath and story;
We honour the day …

431
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Inspiration

Inspiration


Not like a daring, bold, aggressive boy,
Is inspiration, eager to pursue,
But rather like a maiden, fond, yet coy,
Who gives hers…

383
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In the Long Run

In the Long Run

In the long run fame finds the deserving man.
The lucky wight may prosper for a day,
But in good time true merit leads the van,
And…

375
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In The Cup

In The Cup

There is grief in the cup!
I saw a proud mother set wine on the board;
The eyes of her son sparkled bright as she poured
The ruddy strea…

361
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In France I Saw A Hill

In France I Saw A Hill

In France I saw a hill-a gentle slope
Rising above old tombs to greet the gleam
From soft spring skies. Beyond these skies dwells …

427
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In India's Dreamy Land

In India's Dreamy Land

In India's land one listens aghast
To the people who scream and bawl;
For each caste yells at a lower caste,
And the British…

390
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

If I Should Die

If I Should Die

If I should die, how kind you all would grow!
In that strange hour I would not have one foe.
There are no words too beautiful to say

446
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In England

In England

In England, there are wrongs no doubt,
Which should be righted; so men say,
Who seek to weed earth's garden out,
And give the roses righ…

376
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Idler's Song

Idler's Song

I sit in the twilight dim
At the close of an idle day,
And I list to the soft sweet hymn,
That rises far away,

And dies on…

372
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

If--

If--

If I were a raindrop, and you were a leaf,
I would burst from the cloud above you
And lie on your breast in a rapture of rest,
And love you, lo…

460
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I Step Across The Mystic Border-Land

I Step Across The Mystic Border-Land

I step across the mystic border-land,
And look upon the wonder-world of Art.
How beautiful, how beautiful its hills!…

381
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I Will Be Worthy Of It

I Will Be Worthy Of It

It
I may not reach the heights I seek,
My untried strength may fail me;
Or, halfway up the mountain peak

Fierce …

359
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

How Salvator Won

How Salvator Won

The gate was thrown open, I rode out alone,
More proud than a monarch who sits on a throne.
I am but a jockey, yet shout upon shout

450
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I Love You

I Love You

I love your lips when they're wet with wine
And red with a wild desire;
I love your eyes when the lovelight lies
Lit with a passionate f…

507
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

How does Love speak?

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 s…

420
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

High Noon

High Noon

Time’s finger on the dial of my life
Points to high noon! And yet the half-spent day
Leaves less than half remaining, for the dark,
Bleak…

402
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Haunted

Haunted


What are these nameless mysteries,
These subtleties of life and death,
That bring before our spirit eyes
The loved and lost; or, like…

367
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Her Last Letter

Her Last Letter

Sitting alone by the window,
Watching the moonlit street,
Bending my head to listen
To the well-known sound of your feet,
I h…

398
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Guerdon

Guerdon


Upon the white cheek of the Cherub Year
I saw a tear.

Alas! I murmured, that the Year should borrow
So soon a sorrow.

309
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Greeting Poem

Greeting Poem

There was a sound in the wind to-day,
Like a joyous cymbal ringing!
And the leaves of the trees talked with the breeze,
And they alto…

577