Our Poetry Section
Archive of Comments and Discussions - Questions and Answers From All-Creatures.org

Our subjects cover: animals, religion (Christian, Jewish and others); diet and lifestyle (vegan and vegetarian); and other miscellaneous subjects.

By Pat Rose - 26 Jun 2016

Re: Voice Of the Voiceless By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I’m trying to find a bonafide version of Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem “Live and Let Live,” otherwise known as “Voice of the Voiceless.” The poem here on your website has the first verse (with a slight change in wording), and the last verse, but the middle verse is not the one I’ve seen written elsewhere. The middle verse on your website does not flow with the rhythm of the version I have. The words are nice, and they are meaningful, but the rhythm is wrong and the rhyme is wrong. I doubt that this verse was part of the original poem. The middle verse which I have found in Max Heindel’s book is different, but equally meaningful, and follows the rhythm and the rhyme. Here it is below:

The same force formed the sparrow
That fashioned man, the king.
The God of the whole
Gave a spark of soul
To furred and feathered thing.

Your third verse has too many words and the lines don’t rhyme properly. I doubt Ella Wheeler Wilcox would have written these words. “zoo” and “frail” don’t rhyme. This ruins the entire poem. I would leave it out and go with Heindel’s version!

I would like your feelings on what I have written here. I’ve been reading the Heindel version to my students every year for 20 years on the first day of class. It has the right rhyme and the right meter and the right sentiment. I think your 3rd verse has been added in by someone who has no business trying to write poetry.

Pat Rose

Go on to comments: By Frank and Mary Hoffman - 26 Jun 2016
Return to: Our Poetry Section
Return to: Discussion Table of Contents