  Poetry
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Smiles
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Smile a little, smile a little,
As you go along,
Not alone when life is pleasant,
But when things go wrong.
Care delights to see you frowning,
Loves to hear you sigh;
Turn a smiling face upon her –
Quick the dame will fly.
Smile a little, smile a little,
All along the road;
Every life must have its burden,
Every heart its load.
Why sit down in gloom and darkness
With your grief to sup?
As you drink Fate’s bitter tonic,
Smile across the cup.
Smile upon the troubled pilgrims
Whom you pass and meet;
Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms
Oft for weary feet.
Do not make the way seem harder
By a sullen face;
Smile a little, smile a little,
Brighten up the place.
Smile upon your undone labour;
Not for one who grieves
O’er his task waits wealth or glory;
He who smiles achieves.
Though you meet with loss and sorrow
In the passing years,
Smile a little, smile a little,
Even through your tears.
Ella Wheeler was born on November 5, 1850, in Johnstown, Wisconsin. Ella was the youngest of four children born to Marcus H. Wheeler and Sarah Pratt Wheeler. Two years after her birth the family moved to Westport. Ella started writing poetry at a very young age. She went to a district school, which is now named after her Ella Wheeler Wilcox School. She was well known for her poems by the time she graduated high school. Ella went to college but thought it a waste of her time and left after only one term. From the age of fifteen through twenty-five Ella wrote numerous published poems. Fifty-six poems were published in "Drops of Water" in 1872 and over 119 poems in a volume entitled "Shells" published in 1873. Her next volume Maurine: And Other Poems was published in 1888.
Ella was married to Robert Wilcox in 1884. Ella gave birth to a boy who died shortly after his birth. The couple had no other children. Ella and Robert were both became interested in Theosophy after their sons death. They vowed to each other that which ever of them were to died first would return and communicate with the other. Ella was a turn romantic and lived her life to the fullest. Many of her poems reflected her romantic notions and her spiritual beliefs.
Ella published her volumes of poetry one right after another. Ambitious Man was published in 1896. Then came "Custer" published in 1896, "Poems of Pleasure" in 1897 and one year later in 1898, "Men, Women and Emotions." "Kingdom of Love and How Salvator Won " was published in1901. Then in 1902 she published Heart of the "New Thought", followed by "Poems of Power" in 1903 and "Poems of love" published in 1905. "Poems of Passion" which was published in 1911, would have to be her best known volume of poetry. Though Ella is not as recognized as some of other female poets of her time, she has some very familiar lines, such as these lines from "Solitude":
"Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone."
Robert Wilcox died in 1916, after thirty-two years of marriage. This left Ella heartbroken and longer for his message from the beyond. She spent weeks upon weeks looking and waiting for his message. After she was sure she had received a message from him through her on going practice of Spiritualism, she went back to writing. "The Worlds and I" her autobiography, was published in 1918, less than a year before her death. Ella Wheeler Wilcox died October 30, 1919, at her home in Short Beach Connecticut.
A March Snow
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Let the old snow be covered with the new:
The trampled snow, so soiled, and stained, and sodden.
Let it be hidden wholly from our view
By pure white flakes, all trackless and untrodden.
When Winter dies, low at the sweet Spring's feet
Let him be mantled in a clean, white sheet.
Let the old life be covered by the new:
The old past life so full of sad mistakes,
Let it be wholly hidden from the view
By deeds as white and silent as snow-flakes.
Ere this earth life melts in the eternal Spring
Let the white mantle of repentance fling
Soft drapery about it, fold on fold,
Even as the new snow covers up the old.
I Am
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I know not whence I came,
I know not whither I go;
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and the murk
Another truth shines plain –
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.
I know that the earth exists,
It is none of my business why;
I cannot find out what it’s all about,
I would but waste time to try.
My life is a brief, brief thing,
I am here for a little space,
And while I stay I would like, if I may,
To brighten and better the place.
The trouble, I think, with us all
Is the lack of a high conceit.
If each man thought he was sent to this spot
To make it a bit more sweet,
How soon we could gladden the world,
How easily right all wrong,
If nobody shirked, and each one worked
To help his fellows along!
Cease wondering why you came –
Stop looking for faults and flaws;
Rise up to-day in your pride and say,
‘I am part of the First Great Cause!
However full the world,
There is room for an earnest man.
It had need of me, or I would not be –
I am here to strengthen the plan.’
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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The winner of "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] is:
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Generations
As an acorn she found me beneath scattered leaves,
She discovered a place for me to grow with ease.
I confided my secrets to her as she played,
Her shinning glass castles were spun in my shade.
Together we matured as young girl and young oak,
My trunk hid her blushes as she kissed her betrothed.
Below my quivering boughs, she kneeled in delight,
Wed for eternity, in the glow of soft light.
The Weaver spins time; the seasons come and they go,
She introduced her new family, how her eyes shone!
Her children ran around me, joyful and carefree.
They climbed my strong branches; legs swinging while they dreamed.
Children have departed seeking new revelations,
They always return with following generations.
I understand the empty years never last for long;
Once again, the air will be filled with a new child's song.
Honorable mention:
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Poetry: April 11, 2007 Issue [#1651]
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