Poems of Purpose by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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

A Good Sport # of Purpose
I was a little lad, and the older boys called to me from the pier:
They called to me: ‘Be a sport: be a sport! Leap in and swim!’
I leaped in and swam, though I had never been taught a stroke. … Continue Reading …

A Son Speaks # of Purpose
Mother, sit down, for I have much to say
Anent this widespread ever-growing theme
Of woman and her virtues and her rights. … Continue Reading …

The Younger Born # of Purpose
The modern English-speaking young girl is the astonishment of the world and the despair of the older generation. Nothing like her has ever been seen or heard before. … Continue Reading …

Happiness # of Purpose
There are so many little things that make life beautiful.
I can recall a day in early youth when I was longing for happiness. … Continue Reading …

Seeking for Happiness # of Purpose
Seeking for happiness we must go slowly;
The road leads not down avenues of haste;
But often gently winds through by ways lowly, … Continue Reading …

The Island of Endless Play # of Purpose
Said Willie to Tom, ‘Let us hie away
To the wonderful Island of Endless Play. … Continue Reading …

The River of Sleep # of Purpose
There are curious isles in the River of Sleep,
Curious isles without number.
We’ll visit them all as we leisurely creep … Continue Reading …

The Things that Count # of Purpose
Now, dear, it isn’t the bold things,
Great deeds of valour and might,
That count the most in the summing up of life at the end of the day. … Continue Reading …

Limitless # of Purpose
When the motive is right and the will is strong
There are no limits to human power;
For that great Force back of us moves along … Continue Reading …

What They Saw # of Purpose
I saw the unloved and unhappy old, waiting for slow delinquent death to come;
Pale little children toiling for the rich, in rooms where sunlight is ashamed to go; … Continue Reading …

The Convention # of Purpose
From the Queen Bee mother, the mother Beast, and the mother Fowl in the fen,
A call went up to the human world, to Woman, the mother of men. … Continue Reading …

Protest # of Purpose
To sit in silence when we should protest
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised … Continue Reading …

A Bachelor to a Married Flirt # of Purpose
All that a man can say of woman’s charms,
Mine eyes have spoken and my lips have told
To you a thousand times. Your perfect arms … Continue Reading …

The Superwoman # of Purpose
What will the superwoman be, of whom we sing—
She who is coming over the dim border
Of Far To-morrow, after earth’s disorder … Continue Reading …

Certitude # of Purpose
There was a time when I was confident
That God’s stupendous mystery of birth
Was mine to know. The wonder of it lent … Continue Reading …

Compassion # of Purpose
He was a failure, and one day he died.
Across the border of the mapless land
He found himself among a sad-eyed band … Continue Reading …

Love # of Purpose
Dreaming of love, the ardent mind of youth
Conceives it one with passion’s brief delights,
With keen desire and rapture. But, in truth, … Continue Reading …

Three Souls # of Purpose
Three Souls there were that reached the Heavenly Gate,
And gained permission of the Guard to wait.
Barred from the bliss of Paradise by sin, … Continue Reading …

When Love is Lost # of Purpose
When love is lost, the day sets towards the night,
Albeit the morning sun may still be bright,
And not one cloud-ship sails across the sky. … Continue Reading …

Occupation # of Purpose
There must in heaven be many industries
And occupations, varied, infinite;
Or heaven could not be heaven. … Continue Reading …

The Valley of Fear # of Purpose
In the journey of life, as we travel along
To the mystical goal that is hidden from sight,
You may stumble at times into Roadways of Wrong, … Continue Reading …

What would it be? # of Purpose
Now what were the words of Jesus,
And what would He pause and say,
If we were to meet in home or street, … Continue Reading …

America # of Purpose
I am the refuge of all the oppressed,
I am the boast of the free,
I am the harbour where ships may rest … Continue Reading …

War Mothers # of Purpose
In the old times of peace we went our ways,
Through proper days
Of little joys and tasks. Lonely at times, … Continue Reading …

A Holiday # of Purpose
War declares a holiday;
Little children, run and play.
Ring-a-rosy round the earth … Continue Reading …

The Undertone # of Purpose
When I was very young I used to feel the dark despairs of youth;
Out of my little griefs I would invent great tragedies and woes;
Not only for myself, but for all those I held most dear … Continue Reading …

Gypsying # of Purpose
Gypsying, gypsying, through the world together,
Never mind the way we go, never mind what port.
Follow trails, or fashion sails, start in any weather: … Continue Reading …

Song of the Road # of Purpose
I am a Road; a good road, fair and smooth and broad;
And I link with my beautiful tether
Town and Country together, … Continue Reading …

The Faith we Need # of Purpose
Too tall our structures, and too swift our pace;
Not so we mount, not so we gain the race.
Too loud the voice of commerce in the land; … Continue Reading …

The Price he Paid # of Purpose
I said I would have my fling,
And do what a young man may;
And I didn’t believe a thing … Continue Reading …

Divorced # of Purpose
Thinking of one thing all day long, at night
I fall asleep, brain weary and heart sore;
But only for a little while. At three, … Continue Reading …

The Revealing Angels # of Purpose
Suddenly and without warning they came—
The Revealing Angels came.
Suddenly and simultaneously, through city streets, … Continue Reading …

The Well-born # of Purpose
So many people—people—in the world;
So few great souls, love ordered, well begun,
In answer to the fertile mother need! … Continue Reading …

Sisters of Mine # of Purpose
Sisters, sisters of mine, have we done what we could
In all the old ways, through all the new days,
To better the race and to make life sweet and good? … Continue Reading …

Answer # of Purpose
O well have we done the old tasks! in the old, old ways of earth.
We have kept the house in order, we have given the children birth; … Continue Reading …

The Graduates # of Purpose
I saw them beautiful, in fair array upon Commencement Day;
Lissome and lovely, radiant and sweet
As cultured roses, brought to their estate … Continue Reading …

The Silent Tragedy # of Purpose
The deepest tragedies of life are not
Put into books, or acted on the stage.
Nay, they are lived in silence, by tense hearts … Continue Reading …

The Trinity # of Purpose
Much may be done with the world we are in,
Much with the race to better it;
We can unfetter it, … Continue Reading …

The Unwed Mother to the Wife # of Purpose
I had been almost happy for an hour,
Lost to the world that knew me in the park
Among strange faces; while my little girl … Continue Reading …

Father and Son # of Purpose
My grand-dame, vigorous at eighty-one,
Delights in talking of her only son,
My gallant father, long since dead and gone. … Continue Reading …

Husks # of Purpose
She looked at her neighbour’s house in the light of the waning day—
A shower of rice on the steps, and the shreds of a bride’s bouquet. … Continue Reading …

Meditations # of Purpose
I was so proud of you last night, dear girl,
While man with man was striving for your smile.
You never lost your head, nor once dropped down … Continue Reading …

The Traveller # of Purpose
Bristling with steeples, high against the hill,
Like some great thistle in the rosy dawn
It stood; the Town-of-Christian-Churches, stood. … Continue Reading …

What Have You Done? # of Purpose
What have you done, and what are you doing with life, O Man!
O Average Man of the world—
Average Man of the Christian world we call civilised? … Continue Reading …

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

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