Because of the fullness of what I had
All that I have seems void and vain.
If I had not been happy I were not sad;
Though my salt is savorless, why complain?
From the ripe perfection of what was mine,
All that is mine seems worse than naught;
Yet I know as I sit in the dark and pine,
No cup could be drained which had not been fraught.
From the throb and thrill of a day that was,
The day that now is seems dull with gloom;
Yet I bear its dullness and darkness because
‘Tis but the reaction of glow and bloom.
From the royal feast which of old was spread
I am starved on the diet which now is mine;
Yet I could not turn hungry from water and bread,
If I had not been sated on fruit and wine.
Inspirational Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Summary of ‘Penalty’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
In ‘Penalty’, Ella Wheeler Wilcox reflects on the inevitable sorrow that follows deep happiness. The speaker mourns the emptiness of the present: not because it is bleak in itself, but because it pales in comparison to past joy. She acknowledges that only those who have tasted abundance can feel the ache of its absence.
The poem meditates on the emotional cost of fulfilment, suggesting that pain and longing are the price of once having known beauty, love, or meaning. Yet, embedded in the sorrow is a quiet wisdom: that this longing affirms the richness of what once was.
