A Maiden To Her Mirror

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

He said he loved me! Then he called my hair
Silk threads wherewith sly Cupid strings his bow,
My cheek a rose leaf fallen on new snow;
And swore my round, full throat would bring despair
To Venus or to Psyche.

Time and care
Will fade these locks; the merry god, I know,
Uses no grizzled cords upon his bow.
How will it be when I, no longer fair,
Plead for his kiss with cheeks, whence long ago
The early snowflakes melted quite away,
The rose leaf died ? and in whose sallow clay
Lie the deep sunken tracks of life?s gaunt crow?

When this full throat shall wattle fold on fold,
Like some ripe peach left drying on a wall,
Or like a spent accordion, when all
Its music has exhaled ? will love grow cold?



Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Other poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

An Answer

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Fri 09.24.2010 at 03:51

If all the year was summer-time,
And all the aim of life
Was just to lilt on like a rhyme ?
Then I would be your wife.

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Over the Banisters

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Mon 09.13.2010 at 17:33

Over the banisters bends a face,
Daringly sweet and beguiling.
Somebody stands in careless grace,

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Morning Prayer

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Mon 09.13.2010 at 13:31

Let me to-day do something that shall take
A little sadness from the world?s vast store,
And may I be so favoured as to make

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Denied

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Sun 09.12.2010 at 02:09

The winds came out of the west one day,
And hurried the clouds before them;
And drove the shadows and mists away,

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Settle The Question Right

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Mon 08.30.2010 at 03:56

However the battle is ended,
Though proudly the victor comes,
With flaunting flags and neighing nags
And echoing roll of drums;

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The Beautiful Land Of Nod

uswritten by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published on Wed 08.18.2010 at 00:36

Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear,
Your head like the golden-rod,
And we will go sailing away from here

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