Poems of Optimism

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

All rights reserved

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

Published 1913

Reprinted 1915, 1918, 1919

CONTENTS

	PAGE
WAR
Greater Britain	[3]
Belgium	[5]
Knitting	[6]
Mobilisation	[8]
Neutral	[10]
A book for the King	[11]
The men-made gods	[12]
The Ghosts	[14]
The poet’s theme	[16]
Europe	[18]
After	[19]
The peace angel	[20]
Peace should not come	[21]
MISCELLANEOUS
The Winds of Fate	[25]
Beauty	[26]
The invisible helpers	[29]
To the women of Australia	[31]
Replies	[33]
Earth bound	[35]
A successful man	[37]
Unsatisfied	[39]
Separation	[42]
To the teachers of the young	[46]
Beauty making	[47]
On Avon’s breast I saw a stately swan	[49]
The little go-cart	[50]
I am running forth to meet you	[52]
Martyrs of peace	[54]
Home	[56]
The eternal now	[58]
If I were a man, a young man	[59]
We must send them out to play	[62]
Protest	[65]
Reward	[67]
This is my task	[68]
The statue	[70]
Behold the earth	[72]
What they saw	[74]
His last letter	[77]
A dialogue	[81]
A wish	[84]
Justice	[86]
An old song	[87]
Oh, poor, sick world	[90]
Praise day	[93]
Interlude	[95]
The land of the gone-away-souls	[96]
The harp’s song	[98]
The pendulum	[99]
An old-fashioned type	[101]
The sword	[104]
Love and the seasons	[105]
A naughty little comet	[107]
The last dance	[110]
A vagabond mind	[112]
My flower room	[114]
My faith	[117]
Arrow and bow	[119]
If we should meet him	[123]
Faith	[125]
The secret of prayer	[127]
The answer	[129]
A vision	[131]
The second coming	[133]

WAR

GREATER BRITAIN

Our hearts were not set on fighting,
We did not pant for the fray,
And whatever wrongs need righting,
We would not have met that way.
But the way that has opened before us
Leads on thro’ a blood-red field;
And we swear by the great God o’er us,
We will die, but we will not yield.