Sunshine And Shadow

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Life has its shadows, as well as its sun;
 Its lights and its shades, all twined together.
I tried to single them out, one by one,
 Single and count them, determining whether
There was less blue than there was grey,
And more of the deep night than of the day.
But dear me, dear me, my task’s but begun,
And I am not half way into the sun.

For the longer I look on the bright side of earth,
 The more of the beautiful do I discover;
And really, I never knew what life was worth
 Till I searched the wide storehouse of happiness over.
It is filled from the cellar well up to the skies,
With things meant to gladden the heart and the eyes.
The doors are unlocked, you can enter each room,
That lies like a beautiful garden in bloom.

Yet life has its shadow, as well as its sun;
 Earth has its storehouse of joy and sorrow.
But the first is so wide – and my task’s but begun
 That the last must be left for a far-distant morrow.
I will count up the blessings God gave in a row,
But dear me! When I get through them, I know
I shall have little tine left for the rest,
For life is a swift-flowing river at best.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

1:07 min read
86

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCAA DBDBEEFF AGAGGGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,111
Words 224
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

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    From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Test, “Sunshine cannot _____ the snow, Nor time unmake what poets know.
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