Ella Wilcox
Ella Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcoxwas an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion. Her most enduring work was "Solitude", which contains the lines, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone". Her autobiography, The Worlds and I, was published in 1918, a year before her death...
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth5 November 1850
alight along bears bosom church float lamp love million pointing soul though thousand
The world has a thousand creeds, and never a one have I;Not a church of my own, though a million spires are pointing the way on high.But I float on the bosom of faith, that bears me along like a river;And the lamp of my soul is alight with love for life, and the world, and the Giver.
bitter burden found grief grows life majestic neither nor sympathy taste tonic
The life that neither grief nor burden knowsIs dwarfed in sympathy before its close.The life that grows majestic with the yearsMust taste the bitter tonic found in tears.
brand colossal great less pretension prove ready stubborn time
And if pretension for a time deceive,And prove me one too ready to believe,Far less my shame, than if by stubborn act,I brand as lie, some great colossal Fact.
adversity dead earth easy flows goes heart life man praises shines smile smiles test worth
It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song. But the man worth while is the one who can smile, when everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is troubled, And it always comes with the years. And the smiles that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through tears.
lies life unfinished work
Think your life was made for dreaming, nothing more,When God's work lies all unfinished at your door?
helps man succeed
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,But no man can help you die.
borrow earth laugh laughs sad trouble weep
Laugh and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own
dumb earth sins though
God! though all other sins on earth persist,Strike dumb the blatant, loud-mouthed atheist.
life mortal wakes
If there be mortal without love,He wakes to no new life above.
goes halls
Feast, and your halls are crowded; Fast, and the world goes by
body human
Body and mind, and spirit, all combineTo make the Creature, human and divine.
best chaos discontent god man progress splendid springs
The splendid discontent of God With Chaos, made the world; And from the discontent of man The world's best progress springs
chain continued earth endless finite heaven left link love missing
Between the finite and the infiniteThe missing link of Love has left a void.Supply the link, and earth with Heaven will joinIn one continued chain of endless life.
earth praises shines smile worth
...the smile that is worth the praises of earth Is the smile that shines through tears.