Poems of Power

BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
GAY AND HANCOCK, LTD. 21 BEDFORD ROW LONDON
Published 1903 Reprinted 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908 1909 ( three times ), 1910 ( four times ), 1911, 1912 ( twice ), 1913, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918
N.B. — The only volumes of my poems issued with my approval in the British Empire are published by Messrs. Gay & Hancock.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
The final word in the title of this volume refers to the Divine Power in every human being , the recognition of which is the secret to all success and happiness . It is this idea which many of the verses endeavour to illustrate .
E. W. W.
(Written on the day of Queen Victoria’s funeral)
The Queen is taking a drive to-day, They have hung with purple the carriage-way, They have dressed with purple the royal track Where the Queen goes forth and never comes back.
Let no man labour as she goes by On her last appearance to mortal eye: With heads uncovered let all men wait For the Queen to pass, in her regal state.
Army and Navy shall lead the way For that wonderful coach of the Queen’s to-day. Kings and Princes and Lords of the land Shall ride behind her, a humble band; And over the city and over the world Shall the Flags of all Nations be half-mast-furled, For the silent lady of royal birth Who is riding away from the Courts of earth, Riding away from the world’s unrest To a mystical goal, on a secret quest.
Though in royal splendour she drives through town, Her robes are simple, she wears no crown: And yet she wears one, for, widowed no more, She is crowned with the love that has gone before, And crowned with the love she has left behind In the hidden depths of each mourner’s mind.