Back Aa

Poems of Cheer

<h1>POEMS OF CHEER</h1> BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX <ANTIMG alt="Decorative graphic" title= "Decorative graphic" src="images/tps.jpg" /> GAY AND HANCOCK, LTD. 12 and 13, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN LONDON 1914 [All rights reserved] <div class="gapspace"> </div> p. vThis Volume contains the poems published under the title “Poems of Life,” with the exception of about half a dozen, which appear in my other volumes.  I have also added a few new verses. Any edition of my Poems published in Great Britain by any firm except Messrs. Gay and Hancock is pirated and not authentic. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. April 12th, 1910. <div class="gapspace"> </div> p. viI step across the mystic border-land, And look upon the wonder-world of Art. How beautiful, how beautiful its hills! And all its valleys, how surpassing fair! The winding paths that lead up to the heights Are polished by the footsteps of the great. The mountain-peaks stand very near to God: The chosen few whose feet have trod thereon Have talked with Him, and with the angels walked. Here are no sounds of discord—no profane Or senseless gossip of unworthy things— Only the songs of chisels and of pens, Of busy brushes, and ecstatic strains Of souls surcharged with music most divine. Here is no idle sorrow, no poor grief For any day or object left behind— For time is counted precious, and herein Is such complete abandonment of Self That tears turn into rainbows, and enhance The beauty of the land where all is fair. Awed and afraid, I cross the border-land. Oh, who am I, that I dare enter here Where the great artists of the world have trod— The genius-crowned aristocrats of Earth? Only the singer of a little song; Yet loving Art with such a mighty love I hold it greater to have won a place Just on the fair land’s edge, to make my grave, Than in the outer world of greed and gain To sit upon a royal throne and reign. <h2>p. viiCONTENTS</h2> <table> <tr> <td>  </td> <td>PAGE </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Worth while </td> <td>1 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The House of Life </td> <td>3 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>A Song of Life </td> <td>6 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Prayer </td> <td>8 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>In the Long Run </td> <td>10 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>As you go through Life </td> <td>12 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Two Sunsets </td> <td>14 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Unrest </td> <td>18 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Artist’s life </td> <td>20 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nothing but Stones </td> <td>22 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Inevitable </td> <td>24 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Ocean of Song </td> <td>26 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>p. viii“It might have been” </td> <td>29 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Momus, God of Laughter </td> <td>30 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>I Dream </td> <td>32 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Sonnet </td> <td>34 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Past </td> <td>35 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>A Dream </td> <td>36 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Uselessness </td> <td>37 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Will </td> <td>38 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Winter Rain </td> <td>39 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life </td> <td>40 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Burdened </td> <td>41 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Let them go </td> <td>42 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Five Kisses </td> <td>44 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Retrospection </td> <td>48 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Helena </td> <td>50 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Nothing Remains </td> <td>52 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Comrades </td> <td>54 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>What Gain? </td> <td>56 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>p. ixTo the West </td> <td>58 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Land of Content </td> <td>60 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Warning </td> <td>62 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>After the Battles are over </td> <td>63 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>And they are dumb </td> <td>71 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Night </td> <td>73 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>All for me </td> <td>75 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Into Space </td> <td>77 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Through Dim Eyes </td> <td>79 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Punished </td> <td>81 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Half Fledged </td> <td>82 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Year </td> <td>84 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Unattained </td> <td>85 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>In the crowd </td> <td>87 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Life and I </td> <td>89 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Guerdon </td> <td>91 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Snowed Under </td> <td>92 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>“Leudemanns-on-the-river” </td> <td>94 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>p. xLittle Blue Hood </td> <td>97 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>No Spring </td> <td>99 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Midsummer </td> <td>101 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>A Reminiscence </td> <td>103 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>A Girl’s Faith </td> <td>105 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Two </td> <td>107 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Slipping Away </td> <td>109 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Is it done? </td> <td>111 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>A Leaf </td> <td>113 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Æsthetic </td> <td>115 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Poems of the Week </td> <td>117 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Ghosts </td> <td>120 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Fleeing away </td> <td>122 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>All mad </td> <td>124 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Hidden Gems </td> <td>126 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>By-and-bye </td> <td>127 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Over the May Hill </td> <td>129 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Foes </td> <td>131 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>p. xiFriendship </td> <td>133 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Two sat down </td> <td>135 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bound and free </td> <td>137 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Aquileia </td> <td>139 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wishes for a little girl </td> <td>142 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Romney </td> <td>144 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>My Home </td> <td>146 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>To marry or not to marry? </td> <td>148 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>An Afternoon </td> <td>150 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>River and Sea </td> <td>152 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>What happens? </td> <td>153 </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Possession </td> <td>154 </td> </tr> </table> <h2>WORTH WHILE</h2> It is easy enough to be pleasant    When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is the one who will smile    When everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble,    And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is worth the praises of earth    Is the smile that shines through tears. It is easy enough to be prudent    When nothing tempts you to stray, When without or within no voice of sin    Is luring your soul away; But it’s only a negative virtue    Until it is tried by fire, And the life that is worth the honour on earth    Is the one that resists desire. p. 2By the cynic, the sad, the fallen,    Who had no strength for the strife, The world’s highway is cumbered to-day—    They make up the sum of life; But the virtue that conquers passion,    And the sorrow that hides in a smile— It is these that are worth the homage on earth,    For we find them but once in a while. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.