Элла Уилер Уилкокс (англ. Ella Wheeler Wilcox; 5 ноября 1850 года, Джонстаун, Висконсин, США — 30 октября 1919 года, Брэнфорд, Коннектикут, США) американская поэтесса. В её наиболее фундаментальной работе «The Way Of The World» прозвучала известная английская пословица «Смейся — и весь мир будет смеяться вместе с тобой, плачь и ты будешь плакать в одиночестве» (англ. «Laugh, and the world laughs with you; / Weep, and you weep alone»). В 1991 году вышел фильм Оливера Стоуна под названием «JFK» — история об убийстве Джона Кеннеди. В качестве эпиграфа режиссёр использовал фразу Эллы Уилкокс: «Когда следует протестовать, а мы молчим, это грех молчания, который делает людей трусами» (англ. «To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men»).
Библиография
- Автобиография
- The Worlds and I
- Поэзия
- The Invisible Helpers
- The Voice of the Voiceless
- Disarmament
- Roads to God
- To An Astrologer
- Secret Thoughts
- An Ambitious Man
- An Englishman and Other Poems
- Hello, Boys!
- The Kingdom of Love
- Maurine and other Poems
- New Thought Pastels
- Poems of Cheer
- Poems of Experience
- Poems of Optimism
"Solitude" Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth, But has trouble enough of it's own. Sing, and the hills will answer; Sigh, it is lost on the air. The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you; Grieve, and they turn and go. They want full measure of all your pleasure, But they do not need your woe. Be glad, and your friends are many; Be sad, and you lose them all. There are none to decline your nectared wine, But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded; Fast, and the world goes by. Succeed and give, and it helps you live, But no man can help you die. There is room in the halls of pleasure For a long and lordly train, But one by one we must all file on Through the narrow aisles of pain.
"Let Them Go" Let the dream go. Are there not other dreams In vastness of clouds hid from thy sight That yet shall gild with beautiful gold gleams, And shoot the shadows through and through with light? What matters one lost vision of the night? Let the dream go!!
Let the hope set. Are there not other hopes That yet shall rise like new stars in thy sky? Not long a soul in sullen darkness gropes Before some light is lent it from on high; What folly to think happiness gone by! Let the hope set!
Let the joy fade. Are there not other joys, Like frost-bound bulbs, that yet shall start and bloom? Severe must be the winter that destroys The hardy roots locked in their silent tomb. What cares the earth for her brief time of gloom Let the joy fade!
Let the love die. Are there not other loves As beautiful and full of sweet unrest, Flying through space like snowy-pinioned doves? They yet shall come and nestle in thy breast, And thou shalt say of each, "Lo, this is best!" Let the love die!
"Worth while" It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is one who will smile, When everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble, And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is worth the praises of earth, Is the smile that shines through tears.
It is easy enough to be prudent, When nothing tempts you to stray, When without or within no voice of sin Is luring your soul away; But it's only a negative virtue Until it is tried by fire, And the life that is worth the honor on earth, Is the one that resists desire.
By the cynic, the sad, the fallen, Who had no strength for the strife, The world's highway is cumbered to-day, They make up the sum of life. But the virtue that conquers passion, And the sorrow that hides in a smile, It is these that are worth the homage on earth For we find them but once in a while.
