Poems of Cheer

Preface
''This Volume contains the poems published under the title "Poems of Life," with the exception of about half a dozen, which appear in my other volumes. I have also added a few new verses.'' ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. April 12th, 1910.


 * I step across the mystic border-land,
 * And look upon the wonder-world of Art.
 * How beautiful, how beautiful its hills!
 * And all its valleys, how surpassing fair!


 * The winding paths that lead up to the heights
 * Are polished by the footsteps of the great.
 * The mountain-peaks stand very near to God:
 * The chosen few whose feet have trod thereon
 * Have talked with Him, and with the angels walked.


 * Here are no sounds of discord--no profane
 * Or senseless gossip of unworthy things -
 * Only the songs of chisels and of pens,
 * Of busy brushes, and ecstatic strains
 * Of souls surcharged with music most divine.
 * Here is no idle sorrow, no poor grief
 * For any day or object left behind -
 * For time is counted precious, and herein
 * Is such complete abandonment of Self
 * That tears turn into rainbows, and enhance
 * The beauty of the land where all is fair.
 * Awed and afraid, I cross the border-land.
 * Oh, who am I, that I dare enter here
 * Where the great artists of the world have trod -
 * The genius-crowned aristocrats of Earth?
 * Only the singer of a little song;
 * Yet loving Art with such a mighty love
 * I hold it greater to have won a place
 * Just on the fair land's edge, to make my grave,
 * Than in the outer world of greed and gain
 * To sit upon a royal throne and reign.

Poems of Cheer

 * 1) /Worth while/
 * 2) /The House of Life/
 * 3) /A Song of Life/
 * 4) /Prayer/
 * 5) /In the Long Run/
 * 6) /As you go through Life/
 * 7) /Two Sunsets/
 * 8) /Unrest/
 * 9) /Artist's life/
 * 10) /Nothing But Stones/
 * 11) /Inevitable/
 * 12) /The Ocean of Song/
 * 13) /It might have been/
 * 14) /Momus, God of Laughter/
 * 15) /I Dream/
 * 16) /The Sonnet/
 * 17) /The Past/
 * 18) /A Dream/
 * 19) /Uselessness/
 * 20) /Will/
 * 21) /Winter Rain/
 * 22) /Life/
 * 23) /Burdened/
 * 24) /Let them go/
 * 25) /Five Kisses/
 * 26) /Retrospection/
 * 27) /Helena/
 * 28) /Nothing Remains/
 * 29) /Comrades/
 * 30) /What Gain?/
 * 31) /To the West/
 * 32) /The Land of Content/
 * 33) /Warning/
 * 34) /After the Battles are over/
 * 35) /And they are dumb/
 * 36) /Night/
 * 37) /All for me/
 * 38) /Into Space/
 * 39) /Through Dim Eyes/
 * 40) /The Punished/
 * 41) /Half Fledged/
 * 42) /The Year/
 * 43) /The Unattained/
 * 44) /In the crowd/
 * 45) /Life and I/
 * 46) /Guerdon/
 * 47) /Snowed Under/
 * 48) /Leudemanns-on-the-river/
 * 49) /Little Blue Hood/
 * 50) /No Spring/
 * 51) /Midsummer/
 * 52) /A Reminiscence/
 * 53) /A Girl's Faith/
 * 54) /Two/
 * 55) /Slipping Away/
 * 56) /Is it done?/
 * 57) /A Leaf/
 * 58) /Aesthetic/
 * 59) /Poems of the Week/
 * 60) /Ghosts/
 * 61) /Fleeing away/
 * 62) /All mad/
 * 63) /Hidden Gems/
 * 64) /By-and-bye/
 * 65) /Over the May Hill/
 * 66) /Foes/
 * 67) /Friendship/
 * 68) /Two sat down/
 * 69) /Bound and free/
 * 70) /Aquileia/
 * 71) /Wishes for a little girl/
 * 72) /Romney/
 * 73) /My Home/
 * 74) /To marry or not to marry?/
 * 75) /An Afternoon/
 * 76) /River and Sea/
 * 77) /What happens?/
 * 78) /Possession/