Like an Arrow Shot From a Bow: Poems about the Power of Words

A collection of poetry that has helped me positively develop as a person is The Best Loved Poems of the American People, selected by Hazel Felleman. 

I found my copy on the free books’ counter at my local library more than a decade ago. Since then, it’s provided more insight, comfort, refuge, and hope, than I’d have thought possible at the time. 

The book is divided into themes that make it easy to find poems relevant to my current contemplations or experiences: “Love and Friendship,” “Inspiration,” “Poems That Tell a Story,” “Faith and Reverence,” “Home and Mother,” “Childhood and Youth,” “Patriotism and War,” “Humor and Whimsey,” “Memory and Grief,” “Nature,” “Animals,” and “Various Themes.” 

The ideas, reflections, and inspiration I gather from these poems help me to better understand myself and empathize with others. 

I want to share three poems from this volume that focus on the power of words in relationships. Although they contain some religious language, to me their meaning is secular. 

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

You Never Can Tell

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. 

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

Tell Him So

If you hear a kind word spoken

  Of some worthy soul you know, 

It may fill his heart with sunshine

  If you only tell him so.

If a deed, however humble, 

  Helps you on your way to go, 

Seek the one whose hand has helped you, 

  Seek him out and tell him so! 

If your heart is touched and tender

  Toward a sinner, lost and low, 

It might help him to do better

  If you’d only tell him so! 

Oh, my sisters, oh, my brothers, 

  As o’er life’s rough path you go,

If God’s love has saved and kept you, 

  Do not fail to tell men so! 

—Unknown

Say It Now

If you have a friend worth loving, 

  Love him. Yes, and let him know

That you love him, ere life’s evening

  Tinge his brow with sunset glow. 

Why should good words ne’er be said

Of a friend—till he is dead? 

If you hear a song that thrills you, 

  Sung by any child of song,

Praise it. Do not let the singer

  Wait deserved praises long. 

Why should one who thrills your heart

Lack the joy you may impart? 

If you hear a prayer that moves you

  By its humble, pleading tone,

Join it. Do not let the seeker

  Bow before his God alone. 

Why should not your brother share

The strength of “two or three” in prayer?

If you see the hot tears falling

  From a brother’s weeping eyes, 

Share them. And by kindly sharing

  Own our kinship in the skies. 

Why should anyone be glad

When a brother’s heart is sad?

If a silvery laugh goes rippling 

  Through the sunshine on his face, 

Share it. ‘Tis the wise man’s saying—

  For both grief and joy a place. 

There’s health and goodness in the mirth

In which an honest laugh has birth. 

If your work is made more easy

  By a friendly, helping hand, 

Say so. Speak out brave and truly

  Ere the darkness veil the land. 

Should a brother workman dear

Falter for a word of cheer? 

Scatter thus your seeds of kindness

  All enriching as you go—

Leave them. Trust the Harvest Giver;

  He will make each seed to grow. 

So until the happy end

Your life shall never lack a friend. 

—Unknown