Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Lost Nation

Oh! we are a lone, lost nation,
   We, who sing your songs.
With his moods, and his desolation
   The poet nowhere belongs.

We are not of the people
   Who labour, believe, and doubt.
Like the bell that rings in the steeple,
   We are in the world, yet out.

In the rustic town, or the city
   We seek our place in vain;
And our hearts are starved for pity,
   And our souls are sick with pain.

Yes, the people are buying, selling,
   And the world is one great mart.
And woe for the thoughts that are dwelling
   Up in the poet’s heart.

We know what the waves are saying
   As they roll up from the sea,
And the weird old wind is playing
   Our own sad melody.

We send forth a song to wander
   Like a spirit of ill or good;
And here it is heard, and yonder,
   But is nowhere understood.

For the world it lives for fashion,
   For glory, and gain, and strife;
And what can it know of the passion
   And pain of a poet’s life?

1. At Eleusis
2. Worldly Wisdom
3. The Chosen
4. Affirm
5. At Forty-Eight

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