Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Nov. 5, 1850 - Oct. 30, 1919

 

Upon the Sand

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

All love that has not friendship for its base,
Is like a mansion built upon the sand.
Though brave its walls as any in the land,
And its tall turrets lift their heads in grace;
Though skillful and accomplished artists trace
Most beautiful designs on every hand,
And gleaming statues in dim niches stand,
And fountains play in some flow'r - hidden place,

Yet, when from the frowning east a sudden gust
Of adverse fate is blown, or sad rains fall,
Day in, day out, against its yielding wall,
Lo! the fair structure crumbles to the dust.
Love, to endure life's sorrow and earth's woe,
Needs friendship's solid masonwork below.

Source:

Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Copyright 1910
W.P. Nimmo, Hay, and Mitchell, Edinburgh
 

Recommended Works

Love's Philosophy - Percy Bysshe ShelleyLove's Rose - Percy Bysshe ShelleyLove Analysed - Thomas MooreImpatience - Ella Wheeler WilcoxOdes To Nea: You read it in my languid eyes... - Thomas MooreIf Thou'lt Be Mine - Thomas MooreLove And Time - Thomas MooreLove - Samuel Taylor ColeridgeSurrender - Ella Wheeler WilcoxMutual Passion - Samuel Taylor ColeridgeLove's Language - Ella Wheeler WilcoxCommunism - Ella Wheeler WilcoxUpon the Sand - Ella Wheeler WilcoxDelilah - Ella Wheeler WilcoxTo Harriet (Thy look of love ...) - Percy Bysshe ShelleyThe Passionate Shepherd To His Love - Christopher MarloweWedded Souls - Percy Bysshe ShelleyAd Vilmum Axiologum - Samuel Taylor ColeridgeWhat Love Is - Ella Wheeler WilcoxWhen Love Is Kind - Thomas MooreFollow to the deep wood's weeds,... - Percy Bysshe ShelleyHow Shall I Woo? - Thomas MooreThe White Flag - John HaySmiles And Tears - Thomas MooreConversion - Ella Wheeler WilcoxThe Day Of Love - Thomas MooreTo [Harriet]. (Yet look on me...) - Percy Bysshe ShelleyOh, No - Not E'en When First We Loved. - Thomas MooreThe Siren's Song - Thomas MooreLove Much - Ella Wheeler WilcoxThe Sea Hath Its Pearls - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowOld and New - Ella Wheeler WilcoxSilent Love - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowThe Indian Serenade - Percy Bysshe ShelleyOh! Doubt Me Not - Thomas MooreOdes Of Anacreon: Cupid, whose lamp has lent the ray... - Thomas MooreTo Marry Or Not To Marry? A Girl's Reverie - Ella Wheeler WilcoxWhen On The Lip The Sigh Delays - Thomas MooreOdes To Nea: There's not a look, a word of thine... - Thomas MooreMy Secret - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowSong To Celia - Ben JonsonThe Fortune-Teller - Thomas MooreThe Castilian Maid - Thomas MooreComparisons - Thomas MooreTo The Queen Of My Heart - Percy Bysshe ShelleyEndymion - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowEcho - Thomas MooreIndividuality - Ella Wheeler WilcoxLove - Percy Bysshe ShelleyAnswered - Ella Wheeler WilcoxWhat The Bee Is To The Floweret - Thomas MooreA Red, Red Rose - Robert BurnsRow Gently Here - Thomas MooreAnnie Of Tharaw - Henry Wadsworth LongfellowDear Fanny - Thomas MooreThe Time I've Lost In Wooing - Thomas Moore