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Sonnets of sorrow and triumph

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler (1850-1919)

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[section]
  
[dedication]
  
A MAN R. M. W.
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FORECAST
  
THAT DAY
  
HOW WILL IT BE?
  
THE LAND BETWEEN
  
INTERLUDE
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SONNETS OF SORROW
 1. 
[I. Praying for light, and praying all in vain]
 2. 
[II. I know my heart has always been devout]
 3. 
[III. You were so wonderful with quiet faith]
 4. 
[IV. My earthly friends, however occupied]
 5. 
[V. You understood the woman side of me]
 6. 
[VI. My love, my love, how often in old days]
 7. 
[VII. This thought I welcome only, of the train]
 8. 
[VIII. At last a dream—at last a dream of you!]
 9. 
[IX. From land to land, from coast to bloody coast]
 10. 
[X. My sick and suffering heart is newly stricken]
 11. 
[XI. “What boundless wealth of love!”—the sentence stays]
 12. 
[XII. If, till we met, no Maker had existed]
 13. 
[XIII. We scaled all heights, we probed all depths of passion]
 14. 
[XIV. Full many a roadway that we trod was rough]
 15. 
[XV. Loving you so I loved the world entire]
 16. 
[XVI. Oh, to wake once again with that old joy]
 17. 
[XVII. I who have sung so loud of God's great power]
 18. 
[XVIII. The wise ones tell me that my heart's wild clamour]
 19. 
[XIX. Full sixteen thousand million souls are here]
 20. 
[XX. There always was a longing in your heart]
 21. 
[XXI. So many mansions in our Father's house]
 22. 
[XXII. Wild sorrow in my bosom has been raging]
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RETROSPECTION
  
UNDERSTANDING
  
TIME AND I
  
SEAS, SHIPS AND SHORES
  
A PRAYER
  
A THRENODY
  
DRAW ANCHOR
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THE HILLS OF GOD
 1. 
I
 2. 
II
  
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
  
THE BURNING GHAT
  
“HE WHO DOETH ALL THINGS, DOETH ALL THINGS WELL”
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TRIUMPHUS
 1. 
I
 2. 
II

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43

[XIX. Full sixteen thousand million souls are here]

Full sixteen thousand million souls are here
Upon the earth, and yet not one or all
Can rouse my old-time pleasure in this sphere
Or from my shrouded heart remove the pall.
But could I see your face or hear your voice
For one brief moment, dear, or touch your hand
Then would I wake to rapture and rejoice
Though death and devastation filled the land.
I knew I loved you; but life made not plain
How utterly you were my world entire
Until I stood alone and tried in vain
To find diversion, interest, or desire.
Bereft of you, I am of all bereft,
While sixteen thousand million souls are left.
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