Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

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 as…

330
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 …

392
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 honou…

423
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,
Wh…

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 r…

353
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, <…

366
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…

412
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 t…

380
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 …

439
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 …

370
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 lo…

445
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,

364
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 it…

369
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

348
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 pa…

496
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 sh…

438
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 -

408
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,

393
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,…

387
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 lo…

361
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…

566
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 sor…

300
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Good Templars' Song

Good Templars' Song

AIR-'O SUSANNAH!'

Ye soldiers in the temperance cause,
Our work is but begun.
Oh! sit not down in idleness

387
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Gracia

Gracia


Nay, nay, Antonio! nay, thou shalt not blame her,
My Gracia, who hath so deserted me.
Thou art my friend, but if thou dost defame …

444