I should not dare to leave my friend
I should not dare to leave my friend, Because because if he should die While I was gone and I too late Should reach the Heart that wanted me If I should disappoint the
Those not live yet
Those not live yet Who doubt to live again “Again” is of a twice But this is one The Ship beneath the Draw Aground is he? Death so the Hyphen of the Sea Deep
The spry Arms of the Wind
The spry Arms of the Wind If I could crawl between I have an errand imminent To an adjoining Zone I should not care to stop My Process is not long The Wind could
Renunciation is a piercing Virtue
Renunciation is a piercing Virtue The letting go A Presence for an Expectation Not now The putting out of Eyes Just Sunrise Lest Day Day’s Great Progenitor Outvie Renunciation is the Choosing Against itself
The Snow that never drifts
The Snow that never drifts The transient, fragrant snow That comes a single time a Year Is softly driving now So thorough in the Tree At night beneath the star That it was February’s
Nature can do no more
Nature can do no more She has fulfilled her Dyes Whatever Flower fail to come Of other Summer days Her crescent reimburse If other Summers be Nature’s imposing negative Nulls opportunity
Wert Thou but ill that I might show thee
Wert Thou but ill that I might show thee How long a Day I could endure Though thine attention stop not on me Nor the least signal, Me assure Wert Thou but Stranger in
Spring is the Period
Spring is the Period Express from God. Among the other seasons Himself abide, But during March and April None stir abroad Without a cordial interview With God.
I see thee clearer for the Grave
I see thee clearer for the Grave That took thy face between No Mirror could illumine thee Like that impassive stone I know thee better for the Act That made thee first unknown The
What shall I do when the Summer troubles
What shall I do when the Summer troubles What, when the Rose is ripe What when the Eggs fly off in Music From the Maple Keep? What shall I do when the Skies a’chirrup
This World is not Conclusion
This World is not Conclusion. A Species stands beyond Invisible, as Music But positive, as Sound It beckons, and it baffles Philosophy don’t know And through a Riddle, at the last Sagacity, must go
I many times thought Peace had come
I many times thought Peace had come When Peace was far away As Wrecked Men deem they sight the Land At Centre of the Sea And struggle slacker but to prove As hopelessly as
I shall keep singing!
I shall keep singing! Birds will pass me On their way to Yellower Climes Each with a Robin’s expectation I with my Redbreast And my Rhymes Late when I take my place in summer
If He dissolve then
If He dissolve then There is nothing more Eclipse at Midnight It was dark before Sunset at Easter Blindness on the Dawn Faint Star of Bethlehem Gone down! Would but some God inform Him
Did the Harebell loose her girdle
Did the Harebell loose her girdle To the lover Bee Would the Bee the Harebell hallow Much as formerly? Did the “Paradise” persuaded Yield her moat of pearl Would the Eden be an Eden,
As One does Sickness over
As One does Sickness over In convalescent Mind, His scrutiny of Chances By blessed Health obscured As One rewalks a Precipice And whittles at the Twig That held Him from Perdition Sown sidewise in
I think I was enchanted
I think I was enchanted When first a sombre Girl I read that Foreign Lady The Dark felt beautiful And whether it was noon at night Or only Heaven at Noon For very Lunacy
The Merchant of the Picturesque
The Merchant of the Picturesque A Counter has and sales But is within or negative Precisely as the calls To Children he is small in price And large in courtesy It suits him better
Pink small and punctual
Pink small and punctual Aromatic low Covert in April Candid in May Dear to the Moss Known to the Knoll Next to the Robin In every human Soul Bold little Beauty Bedecked with thee
Baffled for just a day or two
Baffled for just a day or two Embarrassed not afraid Encounter in my garden An unexpected Maid. She beckons, and the woods start She nods, and all begin Surely, such a country I was
I breathed enough to take the Trick
I breathed enough to take the Trick And now, removed from Air I simulate the Breath, so well That One, to be quite sure The Lungs are stirless must descend Among the Cunning Cells
The Soul has Bandaged moments
The Soul has Bandaged moments When too appalled to stir She feels some ghastly Fright come up And stop to look at her Salute her with long fingers Caress her freezing hair Sip, Goblin,
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
If I can stop one Heart from breaking I shall not live in vain If I can ease one Life the Aching Or cool one Pain Or help one fainting Robin Unto his Nest
You cannot take itself
You cannot take itself From any Human soul That indestructible estate Enable him to dwell Impregnable as Light That every man behold But take away as difficult As undiscovered Gold
Our lives are Swiss
Our lives are Swiss So still so Cool Till some odd afternoon The Alps neglect their Curtains And we look farther on! Italy stands the other side! While like a guard between The solemn
This dirty little Heart
This dirty little Heart Is freely mine. I won it with a Bun A Freckled shrine But eligibly fair To him who sees The Visage of the Soul And not the knees.
Those fair fictitious People
Those fair fictitious People The Women plucked away From our familiar Lifetime The Men of Ivory Those Boys and Girls, in Canvas Who stay upon the Wall In Everlasting Keepsake Can Anybody tell? We
If it had no pencil
If it had no pencil Would it try mine Worn now and dull sweet, Writing much to thee. If it had no word, Would it make the Daisy, Most as big as I was,
Is it true, dear Sue?
Is it true, dear Sue? Are there two? I shouldn’t like to come For fear of joggling Him! If I could shut him up In a Coffee Cup, Or tie him to a pin
God is a distant stately Lover
God is a distant stately Lover Woos, as He states us by His Son Verily, a Vicarious Courtship “Miles”, and “Priscilla”, were such an One But, lest the Soul like fair “Priscilla” Choose the
How many schemes may die
How many schemes may die In one short Afternoon Entirely unknown To those they most concern The man that was not lost Because by accident He varied by a Ribbon’s width From his accustomed
We'll pass without the parting
We’ll pass without the parting So to spare Certificate of Absence Deeming where I left Her I could find Her If I tried This way, I keep from missing Those that died.
Not all die early, dying young
Not all die early, dying young Maturity of Fate Is consummated equally In Ages, or a Night A Hoary Boy, I’ve known to drop Whole statured by the side Of Junior of Fourscore ’twas
A Route of Evanescence
A Route of Evanescence With a revolving Wheel A Resonance of Emerald A Rush of Cochineal And every Blossom on the Bush Adjusts its tumbled Head The mail from Tunis, probably, An easy Morning’s
The Jay his Castanet has struck
The Jay his Castanet has struck Put on your muff for Winter The Tippet that ignores his voice Is impudent to nature Of Swarthy Days he is the close His Lotus is a chestnut
To be forgot by thee
To be forgot by thee Surpasses Memory Of other minds The Heart cannot forget Unless it contemplate What it declines I was regarded then Raised from oblivion A single time To be remembered what
Did Our Best Moment last
Did Our Best Moment last ‘Twould supersede the Heaven A few and they by Risk procure So this Sort are not given Except as stimulants in Cases of Despair Or Stupor The Reserve These
The Mountain sat upon the Plain
The Mountain sat upon the Plain In his tremendous Chair His observation omnifold, His inquest, everywhere The Seasons played around his knees Like Children round a sire Grandfather of the Days is He Of
On this wondrous sea
On this wondrous sea Sailing silently, Ho! Pilot, ho! Knowest thou the shore Where no breakers roar Where the storm is o’er? In the peaceful west Many the sails at rest The anchors fast
I robbed the Woods
I robbed the Woods The trusting Woods. The unsuspecting Trees Brought out their Burs and mosses My fantasy to please. I scanned their trinkets curious I grasped I bore away What will the solemn
Sunset at Night is natural
Sunset at Night is natural But Sunset on the Dawn Reverses Nature Master So Midnight’s due at Noon. Eclipses be predicted And Science bows them in But do one face us suddenly Jehovah’s Watch
To this World she returned
To this World she returned. But with a tinge of that A Compound manner, As a Sod Espoused a Violet, That chiefer to the Skies Than to himself, allied, Dwelt hesitating, half of Dust,
The Heart is the Capital of the Mind
The Heart is the Capital of the Mind The Mind is a single State The Heart and the Mind together make A single Continent One is the Population Numerous enough This ecstatic Nation Seek
They talk as slow as Legends grow
They talk as slow as Legends grow No mushroom is their mind But foliage of sterility Too stolid for the wind They laugh as wise as Plots of Wit Predestined to unfold The point
To fight aloud, is very brave
To fight aloud, is very brave But gallanter, I know Who charge within the bosom The Cavalry of Woe Who win, and nations do not see Who fall and none observe Whose dying eyes,
We talked as Girls do
We talked as Girls do Fond, and late We speculated fair, on every subject, but the Grave Of ours, none affair We handled Destinies, as cool As we Disposers be And God, a Quiet
They called me to the Window, for
They called me to the Window, for ” ‘Twas Sunset” Some one said I only saw a Sapphire Farm And just a Single Herd Of Opal Cattle feeding far Upon so vain a Hill
Sweet is the swamp with its secrets
Sweet is the swamp with its secrets, Until we meet a snake; ‘Tis then we sigh for houses, And our departure take At that enthralling gallop That only childhood knows. A snake is summer’s
We see Comparatively
We see Comparatively The Thing so towering high We could not grasp its segment Unaided Yesterday This Morning’s finer Verdict Makes scarcely worth the toil A furrow Our Cordillera Our Apennine a Knoll Perhaps
It struck me every Day
It struck me every Day The Lightning was as new As if the Cloud that instant slit And let the Fire through It burned Me in the Night It Blistered to My Dream It
What I see not, I better see
What I see not, I better see Through Faith my Hazel Eye Has periods of shutting But, No lid has Memory For frequent, all my sense obscured I equally behold As someone held a
Publication is the Auction
Publication is the Auction Of the Mind of Man Poverty be justifying For so foul a thing Possibly but We would rather From Our Garret go White Unto the White Creator Than invest Our
The Heaven vests for Each
The Heaven vests for Each In that small Deity It craved the grace to worship Some bashful Summer’s Day Half shrinking from the Glory It importuned to see Till these faint Tabernacles drop In
'Tis good the looking back on Grief
‘Tis good the looking back on Grief To re-endure a Day We thought the Mighty Funeral Of All Conceived Joy To recollect how Busy Grass Did meddle one by one Till all the Grief
I never lost as much but twice
I never lost as much but twice, And that was in the sod. Twice have I stood a beggar Before the door of God! Angels twice descending Reimbursed my store Burglar! Banker Father! I
Tell as a Marksman were forgotten
Tell as a Marksman were forgotten Tell this Day endures Ruddy as that coeval Apple The Tradition bears Fresh as Mankind that humble story Though a statelier Tale Grown in the Repetition hoary Scarcely
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church I keep it, staying at Home With a Bobolink for a Chorister And an Orchard, for a Dome Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice I just wear
Because the Bee may blameless hum
Because the Bee may blameless hum For Thee a Bee do I become List even unto Me. Because the Flowers unafraid May lift a look on thine, a Maid Alway a Flower would be.
You know that Portrait in the Moon
You know that Portrait in the Moon So tell me who ’tis like The very Brow the stooping eyes A fog for Say Whose Sake? The very Pattern of the Cheek It varies in
Precious to Me She still shall be
Precious to Me She still shall be Though She forget the name I bear The fashion of the Gown I wear The very Color of My Hair So like the Meadows now I dared
This heart that broke so long
This heart that broke so long These feet that never flagged This faith that watched for star in vain, Give gently to the dead Hound cannot overtake the Hare That fluttered panting, here Nor
He fought like those Who've nought to lose
He fought like those Who’ve nought to lose Bestowed Himself to Balls As One who for a further Life Had not a further Use Invited Death with bold attempt But Death was Coy of
Pain has but one Acquaintance
Pain has but one Acquaintance And that is Death Each one unto the other Society enough. Pain is the Junior Party By just a Second’s right Death tenderly assists Him And then absconds from
As from the earth the light Balloon
As from the earth the light Balloon Asks nothing but release Ascension that for which it was, Its soaring Residence. The spirit looks upon the Dust That fastened it so long With indignation, As
Like eyes that looked on Wastes
Like eyes that looked on Wastes Incredulous of Ought But Blank and steady Wilderness Diversified by Night Just Infinites of Nought As far as it could see So looked the face I looked upon
We should not mind so small a flower
We should not mind so small a flower Except it quiet bring Our little garden that we lost Back to the Lawn again. So spicy her Carnations nod So drunken, reel her Bees So
The Rat is the concisest Tenant
The Rat is the concisest Tenant. He pays no Rent. Repudiates the Obligation On Schemes intent Balking our Wit To sound or circumvent Hate cannot harm A Foe so reticent Neither Decree prohibit him
Because 'twas Riches I could own
Because ’twas Riches I could own, Myself had earned it Me, I knew the Dollars by their names It feels like Poverty An Earldom out of sight to hold, An Income in the Air,
A Rat surrendered here
A Rat surrendered here A brief career of Cheer And Fraud and Fear. Of Ignominy’s due Let all addicted to Beware. The most obliging Trap Its tendency to snap Cannot resist Temptation is the
We learned the Whole of Love
We learned the Whole of Love The Alphabet the Words A Chapter then the mighty Book Then Revelation closed But in Each Other’s eyes An Ignorance beheld Diviner than the Childhood’s And each to
He is alive, this morning
He is alive, this morning He is alive and awake Birds are resuming for Him Blossoms dress for His Sake. Bees to their Loaves of Honey Add an Amber Crumb Him to regale Me
She hideth Her the last
She hideth Her the last And is the first, to rise Her Night doth hardly recompense The Closing of Her eyes She doth Her Purple Work And putteth Her away In low Apartments in
Never for Society
Never for Society He shall seek in vain Who His own acquaintance Cultivate Of Men Wiser Men may weary But the Man within Never knew Satiety Better entertain Than could Border Ballad Or Biscayan
Like Some Old fashioned Miracle
Like Some Old fashioned Miracle When Summertime is done Seems Summer’s Recollection And the Affairs of June As infinite Tradition As Cinderella’s Bays Or Little John of Lincoln Green Or Blue Beard’s Galleries Her
So has a Daisy vanished
So has a Daisy vanished From the fields today So tiptoed many a slipper To Paradise away Oozed so in crimson bubbles Day’s departing tide Blooming tripping flowing Are ye then with God?
Two Lengths has every Day
Two Lengths has every Day Its absolute extent And Area superior By Hope or Horror lent Eternity will be Velocity or Pause At Fundamental Signals From Fundamental Laws. To die is not to go
You cannot put a Fire out
You cannot put a Fire out A Thing that can ignite Can go, itself, without a Fan Upon the slowest Night You cannot fold a Flood And put it in a Drawer Because the
Love can do all but raise the Dead
Love can do all but raise the Dead I doubt if even that From such a giant were withheld Were flesh equivalent But love is tired and must sleep, And hungry and must graze
A doubt if it be Us
A doubt if it be Us Assists the staggering Mind In an extremer Anguish Until it footing find. An Unreality is lent, A merciful Mirage That makes the living possible While it suspends the
Praise it 'tis dead
Praise it ’tis dead It cannot glow Warm this inclement Ear With the encomium it earned Since it was gathered here Invest this alabaster Zest In the Delights of Dust Remitted since it flitted
When I have seen the Sun emerge
When I have seen the Sun emerge From His amazing House And leave a Day at every Door A Deed, in every place Without the incident of Fame Or accident of Noise The Earth
"Go tell it" What a Message
“Go tell it” What a Message To whom is specified Not murmur not endearment But simply we obeyed Obeyed a Lure a Longing? Oh Nature none of this To Law said sweet Thermopylae I
Power is a familiar growth
Power is a familiar growth Not foreign not to be Beside us like a bland Abyss In every company Escape it there is but a chance When consciousness and clay Lean forward for a
My period had come for Prayer
My period had come for Prayer No other Art would do My Tactics missed a rudiment Creator Was it you? God grows above so those who pray Horizons must ascend And so I stepped
Always Mine!
Always Mine! No more Vacation! Term of Light this Day begun! Failless as the fair rotation Of the Seasons and the Sun. Old the Grace, but new the Subjects Old, indeed, the East, Yet
He who in Himself believes
He who in Himself believes Fraud cannot presume Faith is Constancy’s Result And assumes from Home Cannot perish, though it fail Every second time But defaced Vicariously For Some Other Shame
Color Caste Denomination
Color Caste Denomination These are Time’s Affair Death’s diviner Classifying Does not know they are As in sleep All Hue forgotten Tenets put behind Death’s large Democratic fingers Rub away the Brand If Circassian
"Arcturus" is his other name
“Arcturus” is his other name I’d rather call him “Star.” It’s very mean of Science To go and interfere! I slew a worm the other day A “Savant” passing by Murmured “Resurgam” “Centipede”! “Oh
The Morning after Woe
The Morning after Woe ‘Tis frequently the Way Surpasses all that rose before For utter Jubilee As Nature did not care And piled her Blossoms on And further to parade a Joy Her Victim
He scanned it staggered
He scanned it staggered Dropped the Loop To Past or Period Caught helpless at a sense as if His Mind were going blind Groped up, to see if God was there Groped backward at
Wait till the Majesty of Death
Wait till the Majesty of Death Invests so mean a brow! Almost a powdered Footman Might dare to touch it now! Wait till in Everlasting Robes That Democrat is dressed, Then prate about “Preferment”
To One denied the drink
To One denied the drink To tell what Water is Would be acuter, would it not Than letting Him surmise? To lead Him to the Well And let Him hear it drip Remind Him,
I thought the Train would never come
I thought the Train would never come How slow the whistle sang I don’t believe a peevish Bird So whimpered for the Spring I taught my Heart a hundred times Precisely what to say
I like a look of Agony
I like a look of Agony, Because I know it’s true Men do not sham Convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe The Eyes glaze once and that is Death Impossible to feign The Beads upon
Sweet You forgot but I remembered
Sweet You forgot but I remembered Every time for Two So that the Sum be never hindered Through Decay of You Say if I erred? Accuse my Farthings Blame the little Hand Happy it
"Heaven" is what I cannot reach!
“Heaven” is what I cannot reach! The Apple on the Tree Provided it do hopeless hang That “Heaven” is to Me! The Color, on the Cruising Cloud The interdicted Land Behind the Hill the
Heart! We will forget him!
Heart! We will forget him! You and I tonight! You may forget the warmth he gave I will forget the light! When you have done, pray tell me That I may straight begin! Haste!
A little overflowing word
A little overflowing word That any, hearing, had inferred For Ardor or for Tears, Though Generations pass away, Traditions ripen and decay, As eloquent appears
Of God we ask one favor
Of God we ask one favor, That we may be forgiven For what, he is presumed to know The Crime, from us, is hidden Immured the whole of Life Within a magic Prison We
A Charm invests a face
A Charm invests a face Imperfectly beheld The Lady date not lift her Veil For fear it be dispelled But peers beyond her mesh And wishes and denies Lest Interview annul a want That