Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Under The Sheet

What a terrible night! Does the Night, I wonderThe Night, with her black veil down to her feetLike an ordained nun, know what lies underThat awful..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Uncontrolled

The mighty forces of mysterious spaceAre one by one subdued by lordly man.The awful lightning that for eons ranTheir devastating and untrammeled..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unconquered

However skilled and strong art thou, my foe,However fierce is thy relentless hateThough firm thy hand, and strong thy aim, and straightThy poisoned..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Unanswered Prayers

Like some school master, kind in being stern,Who hears the children crying o’er their slatesAnd calling, “Help me master! ” yet helps not,Since in..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Women

I know two women, and one is chasteAnd cold as the snows on a winters waste,Stainless ever I act and thought(As a man, born dumb, in speech errs not)..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Sunsets

In the fair morning of his life,When his pure heart lay in his breast,Panting, with all that wild unrestTo plunge into the great world's strifeThat..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Sinners

There was a man, it was said one time,Who went astray in his youthful prime.Can the brain keep cool and the heart keep quietWhen the blood is a river..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Roses

A humble wild-rose, pink and slender,Was plucked and placed in a bright bouquet,Beside a Jacqueminot’s royal splendour,And both in my lady’s boudoir..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Nights

(Suggested by the lives of Napoleon and Josephine.)I.ONE night was full of rapture and delightOf reunited arms and swooning kisses,And all the..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Two Loves

The woman he loved, while he dreamed of her,Danced on till the stars grew dim,But alone with her heart, from the world apartSat the woman who loved..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Twin-Born

He who possesses virtue at its best,Or greatness in the true sense of the word,Has one day started even with that herdWhose swift feet now speed, but..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Twilight Thoughts

The God of the day has vanished,The light from the hills has fled,And the hand of an unseen artistIs painting the west all red.All threaded with gold..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

True Charity

I gave a beggar from my little storeOf well-earned gold. He spent the shining oreAnd came again, and yet again, still coldAnd hungry, as before.I..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Transformation

She waited in a rose-hued room;A wanton-hearted creature she,But beautiful and bright to seeAs some great orchid just in bloom.Upon wide cushions..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

To Men

Sirs, when you pity us, I sayYou waste your pity. Let it stay,Well corked and stored upon your shelves,Until you need it for yourselves.We do..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

To Marry Or Not To Marry?

A Girl’s ReverieMother says, ‘Be in no hurry,Marriage oft means care and worry.’Auntie says, with manner grave,‘Wife is synonym for slave.’Father..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

To An Astrologer

Nay, seer, I do not doubt thy mystic lore,Nor question that the tenor of my life,Past, present and the future, is revealedThere in my horoscope. I do..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Tis The Set Of The Sail -- Or -- One Ship Sails East

But to every mind there openeth,A way, and way, and away,A high soul climbs the highway,And the low soul gropes the low,And in between on the misty..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Tired

I am tired to-night, and something,The wind maybe, or the rain,Or the cry of a bird in the copse outside,Has brought back the past and its pain.And I..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time's Hymn Of Hate

Oh, boastful, wicked land, that once was beautiful and great,How bitter and how black must be your self-invited fate,While Time goes down the..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time's Defeat

Time has made conquest of so many thingsThat once were mine. Swift-footed, eager youthThat ran to meet the years; bold brigand health,That broke all..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time Enough

I know it is early morning,And hope is calling aloud,And your heart is afire with Youth’s desireTo hurry along with the crowd.But linger a bit by the..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Time And Love

Time flies. The swift hours hurry byAnd speed us on to untried ways;New seasons ripen, perish, die,And yet love stays.The old, old love – like sweet..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Thy Ship

Hadst thou a ship, in whose vast hold lay storedThe priceless riches of all climes and lands,Say, woudst thou let it float upon the seasUnpiloted, of..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Through The Valley

(After James Thomson)As I came through the Valley of Despair,As I came through the valley, onmy sight,More awful that the darkness of the night,Shone..

© Ella Wheeler Wilcox