I held a Jewel in my fingers
I held a Jewel in my fingers And went to sleep The day was warm, and winds were prosy I said “‘Twill keep” I woke and chid my honest fingers, The Gem was gone
He touched me, so I live to know
He touched me, so I live to know That such a day, permitted so, I groped upon his breast It was a boundless place to me And silenced, as the awful sea Puts minor
The most important population
The most important population Unnoticed dwell, They have a heaven each instant Not any hell. Their names, unless you know them, ‘Twere useless tell. Of bumble-bees and other nations The grass is full.
Taken from men this morning
Taken from men this morning Carried by men today Met by the Gods with banners Who marshalled her away One little maid from playmates One little mind from school There must be guests in
A Night there lay the Days between
A Night there lay the Days between The Day that was Before And Day that was Behind were one And now ’twas Night was here Slow Night that must be watched away As Grains
"Faithful to the end" Amended
“Faithful to the end” Amended From the Heavenly Clause Constancy with a Proviso Constancy abhors “Crowns of Life” are servile Prizes To the stately Heart, Given for the Giving, solely, No Emolument. “Faithful to
It was too late for Man
It was too late for Man But early, yet, for God Creation impotent to help But Prayer remained Our Side How excellent the Heaven When Earth cannot be had How hospitable then the face
It's like the Light
It’s like the Light A fashionless Delight It’s like the Bee A dateless Melody It’s like the Woods Private Like the Breeze Phraseless yet it stirs The proudest Trees It’s like the Morning Best
The Drop, that wrestles in the Sea
The Drop, that wrestles in the Sea Forgets her own locality As I toward Thee She knows herself an incense small Yet small she sighs if All is All How larger be? The Ocean
Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead
Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead Came the Darker Way Carriages Be Sure and Guests too But for Holiday ‘Tis more pitiful Endeavor Than did Loaded Sea O’er the Curls attempt to caper
A Dying Tiger moaned for Drink
A Dying Tiger moaned for Drink I hunted all the Sand I caught the Dripping of a Rock And bore it in my Hand His Mighty Balls in death were thick But searching I
It knew no Medicine
It knew no Medicine It was not Sickness then Nor any need of Surgery And therefore ’twas not Pain It moved away the Cheeks A Dimple at a time And left the Profile plainer
Went up a year this evening!
Went up a year this evening! I recollect it well! Amid no bells nor bravoes The bystanders will tell! Cheerful as to the village Tranquil as to repose Chastened as to the Chapel This
So give me back to Death
So give me back to Death The Death I never feared Except that it deprived of thee And now, by Life deprived, In my own Grave I breathe And estimate its size Its size
Whatever it is she has tried it
Whatever it is she has tried it Awful Father of Love Is not Ours the chastising Do not chastise the Dove Not for Ourselves, petition Nothing is left to pray When a subject is
Somehow myself survived the Night
Somehow myself survived the Night And entered with the Day That it be saved the Saved suffice Without the Formula. Henceforth I take my living place As one commuted led A Candidate for Morning
Just as He spoke it from his Hands
Just as He spoke it from his Hands This Edifice remain A Turret more, a Turret less Dishonor his Design According as his skill prefer It perish, or endure Content, soe’er, it ornament His
Let down the Bars, Oh Death
Let down the Bars, Oh Death The tired Flocks come in Whose bleating ceases to repeat Whose wandering is done Thine is the stillest night Thine the securest Fold Too near Thou art for
Split the Lark and you'll find the Music
Split the Lark and you’ll find the Music Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled Scantilly dealt to the Summer Morning Saved for your Ear when Lutes be old. Loose the Flood you shall find
New feet within my garden go
New feet within my garden go New fingers stir the sod A Troubadour upon the Elm Betrays the solitude. New children play upon the green New Weary sleep below And still the pensive Spring
I know that He exists
I know that He exists. Somewhere in Silence He has hid his rare life From our gross eyes. ‘Tis an instant’s play. ‘Tis a fond Ambush Just to make Bliss Earn her own surprise!
Had this one Day not been
Had this one Day not been. Or could it cease to be How smitten, how superfluous, Were every other Day! Lest Love should value less What Loss would value more Had it the stricken
'Twas here my summer paused
‘Twas here my summer paused What ripeness after then To other scene or other soul My sentence had begun. To winter to remove With winter to abide Go manacle your icicle Against your Tropic
The Sun retired to a cloud
The Sun retired to a cloud A Woman’s shawl as big And then he sulked in mercury Upon a scarlet log The drops on Nature’s forehead stood Home flew the loaded bees The South
A fuzzy fellow, without feet
A fuzzy fellow, without feet, Yet doth exceeding run! Of velvet, is his Countenance, And his Complexion, dun! Sometime, he dwelleth in the grass! Sometime, upon a bough, From which he doth descend in
Adrift! A little boat adrift!
Adrift! A little boat adrift! And night is coming down! Will no one guide a little boat Unto the nearest town? So Sailors say on yesterday Just as the dusk was brown One little
How much the present moment means
How much the present moment means To those who’ve nothing more The Fop the Carp the Atheist Stake an entire store Upon a Moment’s shallow Rim While their commuted Feet The Torrents of Eternity
That odd old man is dead a year
That odd old man is dead a year We miss his stated Hat. ‘Twas such an evening bright and stiff His faded lamp went out. Who miss his antiquated Wick Are any hoar for
Give little Anguish
Give little Anguish Lives will fret Give Avalanches And they’ll slant Straighten look cautious for their Breath But make no syllable like Death Who only shows the Marble Disc Sublimer sort than Speech
Remembrance has a Rear and Front
Remembrance has a Rear and Front ‘Tis something like a House It has a Garret also For Refuse and the Mouse. Besides the deepest Cellar That ever Mason laid Look to it by its
What if I say I shall not wait!
What if I say I shall not wait! What if I burst the fleshly Gate And pass escaped to thee! What if I file this Mortal off See where it hurt me That’s enough
The Birds begun at Four o'clock
The Birds begun at Four o’clock Their period for Dawn A Music numerous as space But neighboring as Noon I could not count their Force Their Voices did expend As Brook by Brook bestows
I think the longest Hour of all
I think the longest Hour of all Is when the Cars have come And we are waiting for the Coach It seems as though the Time Indignant that the Joy was come Did block
Volcanoes be in Sicily
Volcanoes be in Sicily And South America I judge from my Geography Volcanos nearer here A Lava step at any time Am I inclined to climb A Crater I may contemplate Vesuvius at Home.
To do a magnanimous thing
To do a magnanimous thing And take oneself by surprise If oneself is not in the habit of him Is precisely the finest of Joys Not to do a magnanimous thing Notwithstanding it never
Death's Waylaying not the sharpest
Death’s Waylaying not the sharpest Of the thefts of Time There Marauds a sorer Robber, Silence is his name No Assault, nor any Menace Doth betoken him. But from Life’s consummate Cluster He supplants
Upon the gallows hung a wretch
Upon the gallows hung a wretch, Too sullied for the hell To which the law entitled him. As nature’s curtain fell The one who bore him tottered in, For this was woman’s son. “‘Twere
There is a solitude of space
There is a solitude of space A solitude of sea A solitude of death, but these Society shall be Compared with that profounder site That polar privacy A soul admitted to itself Finite infinity.
My Faith is larger than the Hills
My Faith is larger than the Hills So when the Hills decay My Faith must take the Purple Wheel To show the Sun the way ‘Tis first He steps upon the Vane And then
I started Early Took my Dog
I started Early Took my Dog And visited the Sea The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me And Frigates in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands Presuming Me to be
Too cold is this
Too cold is this To warm with Sun Too stiff to bended be, To joint this Agate were a work Outstaring Masonry How went the Agile Kernel out Contusion of the Husk Nor Rip,
His voice decrepit was with Joy
His voice decrepit was with Joy Her words did totter so How old the News of Love must be To make Lips elderly That purled a moment since with Glee Is it Delight or
The Service without Hope
The Service without Hope Is tenderest, I think Because ’tis unsustained By stint Rewarded Work Has impetus of Gain And impetus of Goal There is no Diligence like that That knows not an Until
Success is counted sweetest
Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple Host Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition So clear
Put up my lute!
Put up my lute! What of my Music! Since the sole ear I cared to charm Passive as Granite laps My Music Sobbing will suit as well as psalm! Would but the “Memnon” of
Crisis is sweet and yet the Heart
Crisis is sweet and yet the Heart Upon the hither side Has Dowers of Prospective To Denizens denied Inquire of the closing Rose Which rapture she preferred And she will point you sighing To
Before you thought of Spring
Before you thought of Spring Except as a Surmise You see God bless his suddenness A Fellow in the Skies Of independent Hues A little weather worn Inspiriting habiliments Of Indigo and Brown With
Each Life Converges to some Centre
Each Life Converges to some Centre Expressed or still Exists in every Human Nature A Goal Embodied scarcely to itself it may be Too fair For Credibility’s presumption To mar Adored with caution as
Robbed by Death but that was easy
Robbed by Death but that was easy To the failing Eye I could hold the latest Glowing Robbed by Liberty For Her Jugular Defences This, too, I endured Hint of Glory it afforded For
As Summer into Autumn slips
As Summer into Autumn slips And yet we sooner say “The Summer” than “the Autumn,” lest We turn the sun away, And almost count it an Affront The presence to concede Of one however
You constituted Time
You constituted Time I deemed Eternity A Revelation of Yourself ‘Twas therefore Deity The Absolute removed The Relative away That I unto Himself adjust My slow idolatry
To her derided Home
To her derided Home A Weed of Summer came She did not know her station low Nor Ignominy’s Name Bestowed a summer long Upon a frameless flower Then swept as lightly from disdain As
Faith is the Pierless Bridge
Faith is the Pierless Bridge Supporting what We see Unto the Scene that We do not Too slender for the eye It bears the Soul as bold As it were rocked in Steel With
The Voice that stands for Floods to me
The Voice that stands for Floods to me Is sterile borne to some The Face that makes the Morning mean Glows impotent on them What difference in Substance lies That what is Sum to
A Sickness of this World it most occasions
A Sickness of this World it most occasions When Best Men die. A Wishfulness their far Condition To occupy. A Chief indifference, as Foreign A World must be Themselves forsake contented, For Deity.
Just Once! Oh least Request!
Just Once! Oh least Request! Could Adamant refuse So small a Grace So scanty put, Such agonizing terms? Would not a God of Flint Be conscious of a sigh As down His Heaven dropt
Had I not This, or This, I said
Had I not This, or This, I said, Appealing to Myself, In moment of prosperity Inadequate were Life “Thou hast not Me, nor Me” it said, In Moment of Reverse “And yet Thou art
To mend each tattered Faith
To mend each tattered Faith There is a needle fair Though no appearance indicate ‘Tis threaded in the Air And though it do not wear As if it never Tore ‘Tis very comfortable indeed
It would have starved a Gnat
It would have starved a Gnat To live so small as I And yet I was a living Child With Food’s necessity Upon me like a Claw I could no more remove Than I