On my volcano grows the Grass
On my volcano grows the Grass A meditative spot An acre for a Bird to choose Would be the General thought How red the Fire rocks below How insecure the sod Did I disclose
Nature rarer uses Yellow
Nature rarer uses Yellow Than another Hue. Saves she all of that for Sunsets Prodigal of Blue Spending Scarlet, like a Woman Yellow she affords Only scantly and selectly Like a Lover’s Words.
Said Death to Passion
Said Death to Passion “Give of thine an Acre unto me.” Said Passion, through contracting Breaths “A Thousand Times Thee Nay.” Bore Death from Passion All His East He sovereign as the Sun Resituated
That sacred Closet when you sweep
That sacred Closet when you sweep Entitled “Memory” Select a reverential Broom And do it silently. ‘Twill be a Labor of surprise Besides Identity Of other Interlocutors A probability August the Dust of that
Of Being is a Bird
Of Being is a Bird The likest to the Down An Easy Breeze do put afloat The General Heavens upon It soars and shifts and whirls And measures with the Clouds In easy even
If she had been the Mistletoe
If she had been the Mistletoe And I had been the Rose How gay upon your table My velvet life to close Since I am of the Druid, And she is of the dew
His Feet are shod with Gauze
His Feet are shod with Gauze His Helmet, is of Gold, His Breast, a Single Onyx With Chrysophrase, inlaid. His Labor is a Chant His Idleness a Tune Oh, for a Bee’s experience Of
'Tis whiter than an Indian Pipe
‘Tis whiter than an Indian Pipe ‘Tis dimmer than a Lace No stature has it, like a Fog When you approach the place Nor any voice imply it here Or intimate it there A
The Frost was never seen
The Frost was never seen If met, too rapid passed, Or in too unsubstantial Team The Flowers notice first A Stranger hovering round A Symptom of alarm In Villages remotely set But search effaces
A single Clover Plank
A single Clover Plank Was all that saved a Bee A Bee I personally knew From sinking in the sky ‘Twixt Firmament above And Firmament below The Billows of Circumference Were sweeping him away
Had I known that the first was the last
Had I known that the first was the last I should have kept it longer. Had I known that the last was the first I should have drunk it stronger. Cup, it was your
Ourselves were wed one summer dear
Ourselves were wed one summer dear Your Vision was in June And when Your little Lifetime failed, I wearied too of mine And overtaken in the Dark Where You had put me down By
Snow flakes
Snow flakes. I counted till they danced so Their slippers leaped the town, And then I took a pencil To note the rebels down. And then they grew so jolly I did resign the
Light is sufficient to itself
Light is sufficient to itself If Others want to see It can be had on Window Panes Some Hours in the Day. But not for Compensation It holds as large a Glow To Squirrel
Unable are the Loved to die
Unable are the Loved to die For Love is Immortality, Nay, it is Deity Unable they that love to die For Love reforms Vitality Into Divinity.
His Mind like Fabrics of the East
His Mind like Fabrics of the East Displayed to the despair Of everyone but here and there An humble Purchaser For though his price was not of Gold More arduous there is That one
Within my Garden, rides a Bird
Within my Garden, rides a Bird Upon a single Wheel Whose spokes a dizzy Music make As ’twere a travelling Mill He never stops, but slackens Above the Ripest Rose Partakes without alighting And
I've seen a Dying Eye
I’ve seen a Dying Eye Run round and round a Room In search of Something as it seemed Then Cloudier become And then obscure with Fog And then be soldered down Without disclosing what
Doom is the House without the Door
Doom is the House without the Door ‘Tis entered from the Sun And then the Ladder’s thrown away, Because Escape is done ‘Tis varied by the Dream Of what they do outside Where Squirrels
I read my sentence steadily
I read my sentence steadily Reviewed it with my eyes, To see that I made no mistake In its extremest clause The Date, and manner, of the shame And then the Pious Form That
Not probable The barest Chance
Not probable The barest Chance A smile too few a word too much And far from Heaven as the Rest The Soul so close on Paradise What if the Bird from journey far Confused
The butterfly obtains
The butterfly obtains But little sympathy Though favorably mentioned In Entomology Because he travels freely And wears a proper coat The circumspect are certain That he is dissolute Had he the homely scutcheon Of
No Other can reduce
No Other can reduce Our mortal Consequence Like the remembering it be nought A Period from hence But Contemplation for Contemporaneous Nought Our Single Competition Jehovah’s Estimate.
I cannot see my soul but know 'tis there
I cannot see my soul but know ’tis there Nor ever saw his house nor furniture, Who has invited me with him to dwell; But a confiding guest consult as well, What raiment honor
Dying! To be afraid of thee
Dying! To be afraid of thee One must to thine Artillery Have left exposed a Friend Than thine old Arrow is a Shot Delivered straighter to the Heart The leaving Love behind. Not for
Shame is the shawl of Pink
Shame is the shawl of Pink In which we wrap the Soul To keep it from infesting Eyes The elemental Veil Which helpless Nature drops When pushed upon a scene Repugnant to her probity
When we have ceased to care
When we have ceased to care The Gift is given For which we gave the Earth And mortgaged Heaven But so declined in worth ‘Tis ignominy now To look upon
How sick to wait in any place but thine
How sick to wait in any place but thine I knew last night when someone tried to twine Thinking perhaps that I looked tired or alone Or breaking almost with unspoken pain And I
After all Birds have been investigated and laid aside
After all Birds have been investigated and laid aside Nature imparts the little Blue-Bird assured Her conscientious Voice will soar unmoved Above ostensible Vicissitude. First at the March competing with the Wind Her panting
The Chemical conviction
The Chemical conviction That Nought be lost Enable in Disaster My fractured Trust The Faces of the Atoms If I shall see How more the Finished Creatures Departed me!
I know a place where Summer strives
I know a place where Summer strives With such a practised Frost She each year leads her Daisies back Recording briefly “Lost” But when the South Wind stirs the Pools And struggles in the
Ashes denote that Fire was
Ashes denote that Fire was Revere the Grayest Pile For the Departed Creature’s sake That hovered there awhile Fire exists the first in light And then consolidates Only the Chemist can disclose Into what
I can wade Grief
I can wade Grief Whole Pools of it I’m used to that But the least push of Joy Breaks up my feet And I tip drunken Let no Pebble smile ‘Twas the New Liquor
When I hoped I feared
When I hoped I feared Since I hoped I dared Everywhere alone As a Church remain Spectre cannot harm Serpent cannot charm He deposes Doom Who hath suffered him
Did we disobey Him?
Did we disobey Him? Just one time! Charged us to forget Him But we couldn’t learn! Were Himself such a Dunce What would we do? Love the dull lad best Oh, wouldn’t you?
To lose thee sweeter than to gain
To lose thee sweeter than to gain All other hearts I knew. ‘Tis true the drought is destitute, But then, I had the dew! The Caspian has its realms of sand, Its other realm
One thing of it we borrow
One thing of it we borrow And promise to return The Booty and the Sorrow Its Sweetness to have known One thing of it we covet The power to forget The Anguish of the
Glowing is her Bonnet
Glowing is her Bonnet, Glowing is her Cheek, Glowing is her Kirtle, Yet she cannot speak. Better as the Daisy From the Summer hill Vanish unrecorded Save by tearful rill Save by loving sunrise
Winter is good his Hoar Delights
Winter is good his Hoar Delights Italic flavor yield To Intellects inebriate With Summer, or the World Generic as a Quarry And hearty as a Rose Invited with Asperity But welcome when he goes.
Elijah's Wagon knew no thill
Elijah’s Wagon knew no thill Was innocent of Wheel Elijah’s horses as unique As was his vehicle Elijah’s journey to portray Expire with him the skill Who justified Elijah In feats inscrutable
The face I carry with me last
The face I carry with me last When I go out of Time To take my Rank by in the West That face will just be thine I’ll hand it to the Angel That
Talk not to me of Summer Trees
Talk not to me of Summer Trees The foliage of the mind A Tabernacle is for Birds Of no corporeal kind And winds do go that way at noon To their Ethereal Homes Whose
My best Acquaintances are those
My best Acquaintances are those With Whom I spoke no Word The Stars that stated come to Town Esteemed Me never rude Although to their Celestial Call I failed to make reply My constant
She dealt her pretty words like Blades
She dealt her pretty words like Blades How glittering they shone And every One unbared a Nerve Or wantoned with a Bone She never deemed she hurt That is not Steel’s Affair A vulgar
Forever honored by the Tree
Forever honored by the Tree Whose Apple Winterworn Enticed to Breakfast from the Sky Two Gabriels Yestermorn. They registered in Nature’s Book As Robins Sire and Son But Angels have that modest way To
Suspense is Hostiler than Death
Suspense is Hostiler than Death Death tho’soever Broad, Is Just Death, and cannot increase Suspense does not conclude But perishes to live anew But just anew to die Annihilation plated fresh With Immortality
I taste a liquor never brewed
I taste a liquor never brewed From Tankards scooped in Pearl Not all the Vats upon the Rhine Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of Air am I And Debauchee of Dew Reeling thro endless
The Lightning is a yellow Fork
The Lightning is a yellow Fork From Tables in the sky By inadvertent fingers dropt The awful Cutlery Of mansions never quite disclosed And never quite concealed The Apparatus of the Dark To ignorance
So much of Heaven has gone from Earth
So much of Heaven has gone from Earth That there must be a Heaven If only to enclose the Saints To Affidavit given. The Missionary to the Mole Must prove there is a Sky
A long long Sleep A famous Sleep
A long long Sleep A famous Sleep That makes no show for Morn By Stretch of Limb or stir of Lid An independent One Was ever idleness like This? Upon a Bank of Stone
Because He loves Her
Because He loves Her We will pry and see if she is fair What difference is on her Face From Features others wear. It will not harm her magic pace That we so far
To offer brave assistance
To offer brave assistance To Lives that stand alone When One has failed to stop them Is Human but Divine To lend an Ample Sinew Unto a Nameless Man Whose Homely Benediction No other
'Tis One by One the Father counts
‘Tis One by One the Father counts And then a Tract between Set Cypherless to teach the Eye The Value of its Ten Until the peevish Student Acquire the Quick of Skill Then Numerals
One Joy of so much anguish
One Joy of so much anguish Sweet nature has for me I shun it as I do Despair Or dear iniquity Why Birds, a Summer morning Before the Quick of Day Should stab my
Safe Despair it is that raves
Safe Despair it is that raves Agony is frugal. Puts itself severe away For its own perusal. Garrisoned no Soul can be In the Front of Trouble Love is one, not aggregate Nor is
Dear March Come in
Dear March Come in How glad I am I hoped for you before Put down your Hat You must have walked How out of Breath you are Dear March, Come right up the stairs
We talked with each other about each other
We talked with each other about each other Though neither of us spoke We were listening to the seconds’ Races And the Hoofs of the Clock Pausing in Front of our Palsied Faces Time
How News must feel when travelling
How News must feel when travelling If News have any Heart Alighting at the Dwelling ‘Twill enter like a Dart! What News must think when pondering If News have any Thought Concerning the stupendousness
How dare the robins sing
How dare the robins sing, When men and women hear Who since they went to their account Have settled with the year! Paid all that life had earned In one consummate bill, And now,
And this of all my Hopes
And this of all my Hopes This, is the silent end Bountiful colored, my Morning rose Early and sere, its end Never Bud from a Stem Stepped with so gay a Foot Never a
The Stars are old, that stood for me
The Stars are old, that stood for me The West a little worn Yet newer glows the only Gold I ever cared to earn Presuming on that lone result Her infinite disdain But vanquished
Ourselves we do inter with sweet derision
Ourselves we do inter with sweet derision. The channel of the dust who once achieves Invalidates the balm of that religion That doubts as fervently as it believes.
The Battle fought between the Soul
The Battle fought between the Soul And No Man is the One Of all the Battles prevalent By far the Greater One No News of it is had abroad Its Bodiless Campaign Establishes, and
The right to perish might be thought
The right to perish might be thought An undisputed right Attempt it, and the Universe Upon the opposite Will concentrate its officers You cannot even die But nature and mankind must pause To pay
The Love a Life can show Below
The Love a Life can show Below Is but a filament, I know, Of that diviner thing That faints upon the face of Noon And smites the Tinder in the Sun And hinders Gabriel’s
'Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch
‘Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch, That nearer, every Day, Kept narrowing its boiling Wheel Until the Agony Toyed coolly with the final inch Of your delirious Hem And you dropt, lost, When
These tested Our Horizon
These tested Our Horizon Then disappeared As Birds before achieving A Latitude. Our Retrospection of Them A fixed Delight, But our Anticipation A Dice a Doubt
I am afraid to own a Body
I am afraid to own a Body I am afraid to own a Soul Profound precarious Property Possession, not optional Double Estate entailed at pleasure Upon an unsuspecting Heir Duke in a moment of
The Brain is wider than the Sky
The Brain is wider than the Sky For put them side by side The one the other will contain With ease and You beside The Brain is deeper than the sea For hold them
The Auctioneer of Parting
The Auctioneer of Parting His “Going, going, gone” Shouts even from the Crucifix, And brings his Hammer down He only sells the Wilderness, The prices of Despair Range from a single human Heart To
Conscious am I in my Chamber
Conscious am I in my Chamber, Of a shapeless friend He doth not attest by Posture Nor Confirm by Word Neither Place need I present Him Fitter Courtesy Hospitable intuition Of His Company Presence
Banish Air from Air
Banish Air from Air Divide Light if you dare They’ll meet While Cubes in a Drop Or Pellets of Shape Fit Films cannot annul Odors return whole Force Flame And with a Blonde push
You'll know it as you know 'tis Noon
You’ll know it as you know ’tis Noon By Glory As you do the Sun By Glory As you will in Heaven Know God the Father and the Son. By intuition, Mightiest Things Assert
Death is a Dialogue between
Death is a Dialogue between The Spirit and the Dust. “Dissolve” says Death The Spirit “Sir I have another Trust” Death doubts it Argues from the Ground The Spirit turns away Just laying off
So much Summer
So much Summer Me for showing Illegitimate Would a Smile’s minute bestowing Too exorbitant To the Lady With the Guinea Look if She should know Crumb of Mine A Robin’s Larder Would suffice to
Pain has an Element of Blank
Pain has an Element of Blank It cannot recollect When it begun or if there were A time when it was not It has no Future but itself Its Infinite contain Its Past enlightened
Did you ever stand in a Cavern's Mouth
Did you ever stand in a Cavern’s Mouth Widths out of the Sun And look and shudder, and block your breath And deem to be alone In such a place, what horror, How Goblin
The Clouds their Backs together laid
The Clouds their Backs together laid The North begun to push The Forests galloped till they fell The Lightning played like mice The Thunder crumbled like a stuff How good to be in Tombs
God made a little Gentian
God made a little Gentian It tried to be a Rose And failed and all the Summer laughed But just before the Snows There rose a Purple Creature That ravished all the Hill And
Who Court obtain within Himself
Who Court obtain within Himself Sees every Man a King And Poverty of Monarchy Is an interior thing No Man depose Whom Fate Ordain And Who can add a Crown To Him who doth
The Birds reported from the South
The Birds reported from the South A News express to Me A spicy Charge, My little Posts But I am deaf Today The Flowers appealed a timid Throng I reinforced the Door Go blossom
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
A narrow Fellow in the Grass Occasionally rides You may have met Him did you not His notice sudden is The Grass divides as with a Comb A spotted shaft is seen And then
Beauty be not caused It Is
Beauty be not caused It Is Chase it, and it ceases Chase it not, and it abides Overtake the Creases In the Meadow when the Wind Runs his fingers thro’ it Deity will see
He was weak, and I was strong then
He was weak, and I was strong then So He let me lead him in I was weak, and He was strong then So I let him lead me Home. ‘Twasn’t far the door
Tho' I get home how late how late
Tho’ I get home how late how late So I get home – ’twill compensate Better will be the Ecstasy That they have done expecting me When Night descending dumb and dark They hear
To my small Hearth His fire came
To my small Hearth His fire came And all my House aglow Did fan and rock, with sudden light ‘Twas Sunrise ’twas the Sky Impanelled from no Summer brief With limit of Decay ‘Twas
Alone, I cannot be
Alone, I cannot be For Hosts do visit me Recordless Company Who baffle Key They have no Robes, nor Names No Almanacs nor Climes But general Homes Like Gnomes Their Coming, may be known
His Bill is clasped his Eye forsook
His Bill is clasped his Eye forsook His Feathers wilted low The Claws that clung, like lifeless Gloves Indifferent hanging now The Joy that in his happy Throat Was waiting to be poured Gored
It feels a shame to be Alive
It feels a shame to be Alive When Men so brave are dead One envies the Distinguished Dust Permitted such a Head The Stone that tells defending Whom This Spartan put away What little
Poor little Heart!
Poor little Heart! Did they forget thee? Then dinna care! Then dinna care! Proud little Heart! Did they forsake thee? Be debonnaire! Be debonnaire! Frail little Heart! I would not break thee Could’st credit
All Circumstances are the Frame
All Circumstances are the Frame In which His Face is set All Latitudes exist for His Sufficient Continent The Light His Action, and the Dark The Leisure of His Will In Him Existence serve
Wonder is not precisely Knowing
Wonder is not precisely Knowing And not precisely Knowing not A beautiful but bleak condition He has not lived who has not felt Suspense is his maturer Sister Whether Adult Delight is Pain Or
Many a phrase has the English language
Many a phrase has the English language I have heard but one Low as the laughter of the Cricket, Loud, as the Thunder’s Tongue Murmuring, like old Caspian Choirs, When the Tide’s a’ lull
The Face in evanescence lain
The Face in evanescence lain Is more distinct than ours And ours surrendered for its sake As Capsules are for Flower’s Or is it the confiding sheen Dissenting to enamor us Of Detriment divine?
Belshazzar had a Letter
Belshazzar had a Letter He never had but one Belshazzar’s Correspondent Concluded and begun In that immortal Copy The Conscience of us all Can read without its Glasses On Revelation’s Wall
Good Night! Which put the Candle out?
Good Night! Which put the Candle out? A jealous Zephyr not a doubt Ah, friend, you little knew How long at that celestial wick The Angels labored diligent Extinguished now for you! It might
A little bread a crust a crumb
A little bread a crust a crumb A little trust a demijohn Can keep the soul alive Not portly, mind! but breathing warm Conscious as old Napoleon, The night before the Crown! A modest
This slow Day moved along
This slow Day moved along I heard its axles go As if they could not hoist themselves They hated motion so I told my soul to come It was no use to wait We
A still Volcano Life
A still Volcano Life That flickered in the night When it was dark enough to do Without erasing sight A quiet Earthquake Style Too subtle to suspect By natures this side Naples The North
I know Suspense it steps so terse
I know Suspense it steps so terse And turns so weak away Besides Suspense is neighborly When I am riding by Is always at the Window Though lately I descry And mention to my