Art and Heart
And we need a lot more heart in this broken world.
Art and Heart
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Though critics may bow to art, and I am its own true lover,
It is not art, but heart, which wins the wide world over.
Though smooth be the heartless prayer, no ear in Heaven will mind it,
And the finest phrase falls dead, if there is no feeling behind it.
Though perfect the player's touch, little, if any he sways us,
Unless we feel his heart throb through the music he plays us.
Though the poet may spend his life in skilfully rounding a measure,
Unless he writes from a full warm heart, he gives us little pleasure.
So it is not the speech which tells, but the impulse which goes with the saying,
And it is not the words of the prayer, but the yearning back of the praying.
It is not the artist's skill, which into our soul comes stealing
With a joy that is almost pain, but it is the player's feeling.
And it is not the poet's song, though sweeter than sweet bells chiming,
Which thrills us through and through, but the heart which beats under the rhyming.
And therefore I say again, though I am art's own true lover,
That it is not art, but heart, which wins the wide world over.
Yesterday's post really was touching, and for some reason the poem struck a chord in my own heart. A man's passions, when colored with the deep meaning and value of Love, can produce awe inspiring "art" that truly affects people dramatically. I put art in quotes only because the word is sometimes like "God" is its characterization, hard to define, much bigger than three letters. I have been deeply stirred by a sunset while standing alone, and while listening to music with thousands. One of the most valuable parts of the human experience.