English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The Word. Элла Уилкокс.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Элла Уилкокс)

The Word

Oh, a word is a gem, or a stone, or a song,
    Or a flame, or a two-edged sword;
Or a rose in bloom, or a sweet perfume,
    Or a drop of gall, is a word.

You may choose your word like a connoisseur,
    And polish it up with art,
But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays,
    Is the word that comes from the heart.

You may work on your word a thousand weeks,
    But it will not glow like one
That all unsought, leaps forth white hot,
    When the fountains of feeling run.

You may hammer away on the anvil of thought,
    And fashion your word with care,
But unless you are stirred to the depths, that word
    Shall die on the empty air.

For the word that comes from the brain alone,
    Alone to the brain will speed;
But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays,
    Oh! that is the word men heed. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s other poems:

1. The Phantom Ball
2. The Giddy Girl
3. The Awakening (I love the tropics, where sun and rain)
4. The Bed
5. Bleak Weather

Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):

Edward Thomas (Эдвард Томас) The Word (“There are so many things I have forgot”)

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