Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Long have I searched, Cathedral shrine, and hall,

That gave the full expression (not a part)Of that ecstatic peace which follows allLife’s pain and passion. Strange it should befallThis outer emblem of the inner heartWas waiting far beyond the great world’s mart-Immortal answer, to the mortal call.Unknown the artist, vaguely known his creed:But the bronze wonder of his work sufficedTo lift me to…

A little time agone, a few brief years,

Peace, and a prosperous people, and no fearsOf war and its disorders.Pleasure was ruling goddess of our land; with her attendant MirthShe led a jubilant, joy-seeking band about the riant earth.Do you recall those laughing days, my Brothers,And those long nights that trespassed on the dawn?Those throngs of idle dancing maids and mothersWho lilted on…

We

Mid revel and mirth and song.I looked in your eye with a mute, mute cry,As you elbowed your way through the throng.Alone in that crowd of men who bowed,And flattered, and flirted around,Your quick thought guessed the woe in my breast,And you sprang to my side with a bound.In a whisper as faint as a…

Who thinks how desolate and strange

When housed in attic or in chest,A lonely and unwilling guest,I lie through nights of bleak December,And think in silence, and remember.I think of hempen fields, where IOnce played with insects floating by,And joyed alike in sun and rain,Unconscious of approaching pain.I dwell upon my later lot,Where, swung in some secluded spotBetween two tried and…

Came a bouquet from the city,

Sweet carnation and geraniium,Heliotrope and roses rare.Down beside the crystal river,Where the moss-grown rocks are high,And the ferns, from niche and crevice,Stretch to greet the azure sky;In the chaste October sunlight,High above the path below,Grew a tuft of lovely blue-bells,Softly wind-swung to and fro.Reached a dainty hand to grasp them,Bore them home with loving care,Tenderly…