Poem “If” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Love

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Love
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If

If I were sent to represent
  A portion of a nation
I would not chat, on this and that,
  In the halls of legislation.
To show my power, I’d waste no hour
  In aimless talk and bother,
Nor fritter away a precious day
  On this and that and the other.

Whether the food a dog consumes
  Wouldn’t make a porker fatter,
And about a thousand useless things,
  Of no import or matter;–
Whether each day a man should pray
  For our welfare, or shouldn’t.
Now I do not say men do this way;
  I merely say I wouldn’t!

No! were I sent to represent
  A state, or town, or county,
I’d do some good, and all I could,
  To earn the people’s bounty.
Instead of a dog, or a fattening hog,
  I’d talk about men’s drinking!
And, with words of fire, I-would inspire
  The stolid and unthinking.

And the time that I might idly waste,
  (I don’t say men do waste it,)
I’d spend in pleading for my cause,
  And, with tongue and pen, I’d haste it
Through all the land, till a mighty band,
  With laws and legislation,
Should cleanse the stain and cut the chain
  That binds our helpless nation.

And little need would there be then,
  When that bright sun had risen,
Of asylum wings or building sites–
  Of county or state prison.
The need is made by the liquor trade!
  Oh ye wise, sage law-makers,
‘Tis the friend you smile upon that makes
  Our madmen and law-breakers.

“Two-thirds,” so reads our State Report,
  “Are made insane by liquor!”
And so I say, I’d spend no day
  In idle chat and bicker
If I were sent to represent
  A portion of a nation;
But I’d plead for laws, until my cause
  Was won through legislation.

< < < One Woman’s Plea
A Plea For Fame > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Love

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