You Never Can Tell – A Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox with Recording

The poem “You Never Can Tell” was written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox circa 1895. It’s about how your words and deeds can have consequences that will bring hate or love back to you. So choose carefully what you do and say.

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You can listen to a recording of the poem below and read along with the text…

MP3 Recording of You Never Can Tell

You Never Can Tell
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

You never can tell when you send a word,
Like an arrow shot from a bow
By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,
Just where it may chance to go.
It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend.
Tipped with its poison or balm,
To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart,
It may carry its pain or its calm.

You never can tell when you do an act
Just what the result will be;
But with every deed you are sowing a seed,
Though the harvest you may not see.
Each kindly act is an acorn dropped
In God’s productive soil
You may not know, but the tree shall grow,
With shelter for those who toil.

You never can tell what your thoughts will do,
In bringing you hate or love;
For thoughts are things, and their airy wings
Are swifter than carrier doves.
They follow the law of the universe —
Each thing must create its kind,
And they speed o’er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind.

This article was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2018 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, England, English, Languages, Mama Lisa, MP3's, MP3's of Poems, Poem about Friendship, Poems, Poems about Being a Good Person, Poems about Life, Poems about Love, Poetry, Poets, Recordings, Recordings of Poems, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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