700
You've seen Balloons set -- Haven't You?
So stately they ascend --
It is as Swans -- discarded You,
For Duties Diamond --
Their Liquid Feet go softly out
Upon a Sea of Blonde --
They spurn the Air, as t'were too mean
For Creatures so renowned --
Their Ribbons just beyond the eye --
They struggle -- some -- for Breath --
And yet the Crowd applaud, below --
They would not encore -- Death --
The Gilded Creature strains -- and spins --
Trips frantic in a Tree --
Tears open her imperial Veins --
And tumbles in the Sea --
The Crowd -- retire with an Oath --
The Dust in Streets -- go down --
And Clerks in Counting Rooms
Observe -- "'Twas only a Balloon" --
701
A Thought went up my mind today --
That I have had before --
But did not finish -- some way back --
I could not fix the Year --
Nor where it went -- nor why it came
The second time to me --
Nor definitely, what it was --
Have I the Art to say --
But somewhere -- in my Soul -- I know --
I've met the Thing before --
It just reminded me -- 'twas all --
And came my way no more --
702
A first Mute Coming --
In the Stranger's House --
A first fair Going --
When the Bells rejoice --
A first Exchange -- of
What hath mingled -- been --
For Lot -- exhibited to
Faith -- alone --
703
Out of sight? What of that?
See the Bird -- reach it!
Curve by Curve -- Sweep by Sweep --
Round the Steep Air --
Danger! What is that to Her?
Better 'tis to fail -- there --
Than debate -- here --
Blue is Blue -- the World through --
Amber -- Amber -- Dew -- Dew --
Seek -- Friend -- and see --
Heaven is shy of Earth -- that's all --
Bashful Heaven -- thy Lovers small --
Hide -- too -- from thee --
704
No matter -- now -- Sweet --
But when I'm Earl --
Won't you wish you'd spoken
To that dull Girl?
Trivial a Word -- just --
Trivial -- a Smile --
But won't you wish you'd spared one
When I'm Earl?
I shan't need it -- then --
Crests -- will do --
Eagles on my Buckles --
On my Belt -- too --
Ermine -- my familiar Gown --
Say -- Sweet -- then
Won't you wish you'd smiled -- just --
Me upon?
705
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 --
706
Life, and Death, and Giants --
Such as These -- are still --
Minor -- Apparatus -- Hopper of the Mill --
Beetle at the Candle --
Or a Fife's Fame --
Maintain -- by Accident that they proclaim --
707
The Grace -- Myself -- might not obtain --
Confer upon My flower --
Refracted but a Countenance --
For I -- inhabit Her --
708
I sometimes drop it, for a Quick --
The Thought to be alive --
Anonymous Delight to know --
And Madder -- to conceive --
Consoles a Woe so monstrous
That did it tear all Day,
Without an instant's Respite --
'Twould look too far -- to Die --
709
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 Snow --
Thought belong to Him who gave it --
Then -- to Him Who bear
Its Corporeal illustration -- Sell
The Royal Air --
In the Parcel -- Be the Merchant
Of the Heavenly Grace --
But reduce no Human Spirit
To Disgrace of Price --
710
The Sunrise runs for Both --
The East -- Her Purple Troth
Keeps with the Hill --
The Noon unwinds Her Blue
Till One Breadth cover Two --
Remotest -- still --
Nor does the Night forget
A Lamp for Each -- to set --
Wicks wide away --
The North -- Her blazing Sign
Erects in Iodine --
Till Both -- can see --
The Midnight's Dusky Arms
Clasp Hemispheres, and Homes
And so
Upon Her Bosom -- One --
And One upon Her Hem --
Both lie --
711
Strong Draughts of Their Refreshing Minds
To drink -- enables Mine
Through Desert or the Wilderness
As bore it Sealed Wine --
To go elastic -- Or as One
The Camel's trait -- attained --
How powerful the Stimulus
Of an Hermetic Mind --
712
Because I could not stop for Death --
He kindly stopped for me --
The Carriage held but just Ourselves --
And Immortality.
We slowly drove -- He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility --
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess -- in the Ring --
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain --
We passed the Setting Sun --
Or rather -- He passed Us --
The Dews drew quivering and chill --
For only Gossamer, my Gown --
My Tippet -- only Tulle --
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground --
The Roof was scarcely visible --
The Cornice -- in the Ground --
Since then -- 'tis Centuries -- and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity --
713
Fame of Myself, to justify,
All other Plaudit be
Superfluous -- An Incense
Beyond Necessity --
Fame of Myself to lack -- Although
My Name be else Supreme --
This were an Honor honorless --
A futile Diadem --
714
Rest at Night
The Sun from shining,
Nature -- and some Men --
Rest at Noon -- some Men --
While Nature
And the Sun -- go on --
715
The World -- feels Dusty
When We stop to Die --
We want the Dew -- then --
Honors -- taste dry --
Flags -- vex a Dying face --
But the least Fan
Stirred by a friend's Hand --
Cools -- like the Rain --
Mine be the Ministry
When they Thirst comes --
And Hybla Balms --
Dews of Thessaly, to fetch --
716
The Day undressed -- Herself --
Her Garter -- was of Gold --
Her Petticoat -- of Purple plain --
Her Dimities -- as old
Exactly -- as the World --
And yet the newest Star --
Enrolled upon the Hemisphere
Be wrinkled -- much as Her --
Too near to God -- to pray --
Too near to Heaven -- to fear --
The Lady of the Occident
Retired without a care --
Her Candle so expire
The flickering be seen
On Ball of Mast in Bosporus --
And Dome -- and Window Pane --
717
The Beggar Lad -- dies early --
It's Somewhat in the Cold --
And Somewhat in the Trudging feet --
And haply, in the World --
The Cruel -- smiling -- bowing World --
That took its Cambric Way --
Nor heard the timid cry for "Bread" --
"Sweet Lady -- Charity" --
Among Redeemed Children
If Trudging feet may stand
The Barefoot time forgotten -- so --
The Sleet -- the bitter Wind --
The Childish Hands that teased for Pence
Lifted adoring -- them --
To Him whom never Ragged -- Coat
Did supplicate in vain --
718
I meant to find Her when I came --
Death -- had the same design --
But the Success -- was His -- it seems --
And the Surrender -- Mine --
I meant to tell Her how I longed
For just this single time --
But Death had told Her so the first --
And she had past, with Him --
To wander -- now -- is my Repose --
To rest -- To rest would be
A privilege of Hurricane
To Memory -- and Me.
719
A South Wind -- has a pathos
Of individual Voice --
As One detect on Landings
An Emigrant's address.
A Hint of Ports and Peoples --
And much not understood --
The fairer -- for the farness --
And for the foreignhood.
720
No Prisoner be --
Where Liberty --
Himself -- abide with Thee --
721
Behind Me -- dips Eternity --
Before Me -- Immortality --
Myself -- the Term between --
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin --
'Tis Kingdoms -- afterward -- they say --
In perfect -- pauseless Monarchy --
Whose Prince -- is Son of None --
Himself -- His Dateless Dynasty --
Himself -- Himself diversify --
In Duplicate divine --
'Tis Miracle before Me -- then --
'Tis Miracle behind -- between --
A Crescent in the Sea --
With Midnight to the North of Her --
And Midnight to the South of Her --
And Maelstrom -- in the Sky --
722
Sweet Mountains -- Ye tell Me no lie --
Never deny Me -- Never fly --
Those same unvarying Eyes
Turn on Me -- when I fail -- or feign,
Or take the Royal names in vain --
Their far -- slow -- Violet Gaze --
My Strong Madonnas -- Cherish still --
The Wayward Nun -- beneath the Hill --
Whose service -- is to You --
Her latest Worship -- When the Day
Fades from the Firmament away --
To lift Her Brows on You --
723
It tossed -- and tossed --
A little Brig I knew -- o'ertook by Blast --
It spun -- and spun --
And groped delirious, for Morn --
It slipped -- and slipped --
As One that drunken -- stept --
Its white foot tripped --
Then dropped from sight --
Ah, Brig -- Good Night
To Crew and You --
The Ocean's Heart too smooth -- too Blue --
To break for You --
724
It's easy to invent a Life --
God does it -- every Day --
Creation -- but the Gambol
Of His Authority --
It's easy to efface it --
The thrifty Deity
Could scarce afford Eternity
To Spontaneity --
The Perished Patterns murmur --
But His Perturbless Plan
Proceed -- inserting Here -- a Sun --
There -- leaving out a Man --
725
Where Thou art -- that -- is Home --
Cashmere -- or Calvary -- the same --
Degree -- or Shame --
I scarce esteem Location's Name --
So I may Come --
What Thou dost -- is Delight --
Bondage as Play -- be sweet --
Imprisonment -- Content --
And Sentence -- Sacrament --
Just We two -- meet --
Where Thou art not -- is Woe --
Tho' Bands of Spices -- row --
What Thou dost not -- Despair --
Tho' Gabriel -- praise me -- Sire --
726
We thirst at first -- 'tis Nature's Act --
And later -- when we die --
A little Water supplicate --
Of fingers going by --
It intimates the finer want --
Whose adequate supply
Is that Great Water in the West --
Termed Immortality --
727
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 to show a Tress of Theirs
If haply -- She might not despise
A Buttercup's Array --
I know the Whole -- obscures the Part --
The fraction -- that appeased the Heart
Till Number's Empery --
Remembered -- as the Millner's flower
When Summer's Everlasting Dower --
Confronts the dazzled Bee.
728
Let Us play Yesterday --
I -- the Girl at school --
You -- and Eternity -- the
Untold Tale --
Easing my famine
At my Lexicon --
Logarithm -- had I -- for Drink --
'Twas a dry Wine --
Somewhat different -- must be --
Dreams tint the Sleep --
Cunning Reds of Morning
Make the Blind -- leap --
Still at the Egg-life --
Chafing the Shell --
When you troubled the Ellipse --
And the Bird fell --
Manacles be dim -- they say --
To the new Free --
Liberty -- Commoner --
Never could -- to me --
'Twas my last gratitude
When I slept -- at night --
'Twas the first Miracle
Let in -- with Light --
Can the Lark resume the Shell --
Easier -- for the Sky --
Wouldn't Bonds hurt more
Than Yesterday?
Wouldn't Dungeons sorer frate
On the Man -- free --
Just long enough to taste --
Then -- doomed new --
God of the Manacle
As of the Free --
Take not my Liberty
Away from Me --
729
Alter! When the Hills do --
Falter! When the Sun
Question if His Glory
Be the Perfect One --
Surfeit! When the Daffodil
Doth of the Dew --
Even as Herself -- Sir --
I will -- of You --
730
Defrauded I a Butterfly --
The lawful Heir -- for Thee --
731
"I want" -- it pleaded -- All its life --
I want -- was chief it said
When Skill entreated it -- the last --
And when so newly dead --
I could not deem it late -- to hear
That single -- steadfast sigh --
The lips had placed as with a "Please"
Toward Eternity --
732
She rose to His Requirement -- dropt
The Playthings of Her Life
To take the honorable Work
Of Woman, and of Wife --
If ought She missed in Her new Day,
Of Amplitude, or Awe --
Or first Prospective -- Or the Gold
In using, wear away,
It lay unmentioned -- as the Sea
Develop Pearl, and Weed,
But only to Himself -- be known
The Fathoms they abide --
733
The Spirit is the Conscious Ear.
We actually Hear
When We inspect -- that's audible --
That is admitted -- Here --
For other Services -- as Sound --
There hangs a smaller Ear
Outside the Castle -- that Contain --
The other -- only -- Hear --
734
If He were living -- dare I ask --
And how if He be dead --
And so around the Words I went --
Of meeting them -- afraid --
I hinted Changes -- Lapse of Time --
The Surfaces of Years --
I touched with Caution -- lest they crack --
And show me to my fears --
Reverted to adjoining Lives --
Adroitly turning out
Wherever I suspected Graves --
'Twas prudenter -- I thought --
And He -- I pushed -- with sudden force --
In face of the Suspense --
"Was buried" -- "Buried"! "He!"
My Life just holds the Trench --
735
Upon Concluded Lives
There's nothing cooler falls --
Than Life's sweet Calculations --
The mixing Bells and Palls --
Make Lacerating Tune --
To Ears the Dying Side --
'Tis Coronal -- and Funeral --
Saluting -- in the Road --
736
Have any like Myself
Investigating March,
New Houses on the Hill descried --
And possibly a Church --
That were not, We are sure --
As lately as the Snow --
And are Today -- if We exist --
Though how may this be so?
Have any like Myself
Conjectured Who may be
The Occupants of the Adobes --
So easy to the Sky --
'Twould seem that God should be
The nearest Neighbor to --
And Heaven -- a convenient Grace
For Show, or Company --
Have any like Myself
Preserved the Charm secure
By shunning carefully the Place
All Seasons of the Year,
Excepting March -- 'Tis then
My Villages be seen --
And possibly a Steeple --
Not afterward -- by Men --
737
The Moon was but a Chin of Gold
A Night or two ago --
And now she turns Her perfect Face
Upon the World below --
Her Forehead is of Amplest Blonde --
Her Cheek -- a Beryl hewn --
Her Eye unto the Summer Dew
The likest I have known --
Her Lips of Amber never part --
But what must be the smile
Upon Her Friend she could confer
Were such Her Silver Will --
And what a privilege to be
But the remotest Star --
For Certainty She take Her Way
Beside Your Palace Door --
Her Bonnet is the Firmament --
The Universe -- Her Shoe --
The Stars -- the Trinkets at Her Belt --
Her Dimities -- of Blue --
738
You said that I "was Great" -- one Day --
Then "Great" it be -- if that please Thee --
Or Small -- or any size at all --
Nay -- I'm the size suit Thee --
Tall -- like the Stag -- would that?
Or lower -- like the Wren --
Or other heights of Other Ones
I've seen?
Tell which -- it's dull to guess --
And I must be Rhinoceros
Or Mouse --
At once -- for Thee --
So say -- if Queen it be --
Or Page -- please Thee --
I'm that -- or nought --
Or other thing -- if other thing there be --
With just this Stipulus --
I suit Thee --
739
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 --
How many the fictitious Shores --
Before the Harbor be --
740
You taught me Waiting with Myself --
Appointment strictly kept --
You taught me fortitude of Fate --
This -- also -- I have learnt --
An Altitude of Death, that could
No bitterer debar
Than Life -- had done -- before it --
Yet -- there is a Science more --
The Heaven you know -- to understand
That you be not ashamed
Of Me -- in Christ's bright Audience
Upon the further Hand --
741
Drama's Vitallest Expression is the Common Day
That arise and set about Us --
Other Tragedy
Perish in the Recitation --
This -- the best enact
When the Audience is scattered
And the Boxes shut --
"Hamlet" to Himself were Hamlet --
Had not Shakespeare wrote --
Though the "Romeo" left no Record
Of his Juliet,
It were infinite enacted
In the Human Heart --
Only Theatre recorded
Owner cannot shut --
742
Four Trees -- upon a solitary Acre --
Without Design
Or Order, or Apparent Action --
Maintain --
The Sun -- upon a Morning meets them --
The Wind --
No nearer Neighbor -- have they --
But God --
The Acre gives them -- Place --
They -- Him -- Attention of Passer by --
Of Shadow, or of Squirrel, haply --
Or Boy --
What Deed is Theirs unto the General Nature --
What Plan
They severally -- retard -- or further --
Unknown --
743
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 for the Bees -- I said --
And trouble Me -- no More --
The Summer Grace, for Notice strove --
Remote -- Her best Array --
The Heart -- to stimulate the Eye
Refused too utterly --
At length, a Mourner, like Myself,
She drew away austere --
Her frosts to ponder -- then it was
I recollected Her --
She suffered Me, for I had mourned --
I offered Her no word --
My Witness -- was the Crape I bore --
Her -- Witness -- was Her Dead --
Thenceforward -- We -- together dwelt --
I never questioned Her --
Our Contract
A Wiser Sympathy
744
Remorse -- is Memory -- awake --
Her Parties all astir --
A Presence of Departed Acts --
At window -- and at Door --
Its Past -- set down before the Soul
And lighted with a Match --
Perusal -- to facilitate --
And help Belief to stretch --
Remorse is cureless -- the Disease
Not even God -- can heal --
For 'tis His institution -- and
The Adequate of Hell --
745
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 --
Itself to justify
Unto itself --
When larger function --
Make that appear --
Smaller -- that Covered Vision -- Here --
746
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 Hymn --
Neither introduction
Need You -- unto Him --
747
It dropped so low -- in my Regard --
I heard it hit the Ground --
And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind --
Yet blamed the Fate that flung it -- less
Than I denounced Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon my Silver Shelf --
748
Autumn -- overlooked my Knitting --
Dyes -- said He -- have I --
Could disparage a Flamingo --
Show Me them -- said I --
Cochineal -- I chose -- for deeming
It resemble Thee --
And the little Border -- Dusker --
For resembling Me --
749
All but Death, can be Adjusted --
Dynasties repaired --
Systems -- settled in their Sockets --
Citadels -- dissolved --
Wastes of Lives -- resown with Colors
By Succeeding Springs --
Death -- unto itself -- Exception --
Is exempt from Change --
750
Growth of Man -- like Growth of Nature --
Gravitates within --
Atmosphere, and Sun endorse it --
Bit it stir -- alone --
Each -- its difficult Ideal
Must achieve -- Itself --
Through the solitary prowess
Of a Silent Life --
Effort -- is the sole condition --
Patience of Itself --
Patience of opposing forces --
And intact Belief --
Looking on -- is the Department
Of its Audience --
But Transaction -- is assisted
By no Countenance --
751
My Worthiness is all my Doubt --
His Merit -- all my fear --
Contrasting which, my quality
Do lowlier -- appear --
Lest I should insufficient prove
For His beloved Need --
The Chiefest Apprehension
Upon my thronging Mind --
'Tis true -- that Deity to stoop
Inherently incline --
For nothing higher than Itself
Itself can rest upon --
So I -- the undivine abode
Of His Elect Content --
Conform my Soul -- as 'twere a Church,
Unto Her Sacrament --
752
So the Eyes accost -- and sunder
In an Audience --
Stamped -- occasionally -- forever --
So may Countenance
Entertain -- without addressing
Countenance of One
In a Neighboring Horizon --
Gone -- as soon as known --
753
My Soul -- accused me -- And I quailed --
As Tongue of Diamond had reviled
All else accused me -- and I smiled --
My Soul -- that Morning -- was My friend --
Her favor -- is the best Disdain
Toward Artifice of Time -- or Men --
But Her Disdain -- 'twere lighter bear
A finger of Enamelled Fire --
754
My Life had stood -- a Loaded Gun --
In Corners -- till a Day
The Owner passed -- identified --
And carried Me away --
And now We roam in Sovereign Woods --
And now We hunt the Doe --
And every time I speak for Him --
The Mountains straight reply --
And do I smile, such cordial light
Upon the Valley glow --
It is as a Vesuvian face
Had let its pleasure through --
And when at Night -- Our good Day done --
I guard My Master's Head --
'Tis better than the Eider-Duck's
Deep Pillow -- to have shared --
To foe of His -- I'm deadly foe --
None stir the second time --
On whom I lay a Yellow Eye --
Or an emphatic Thumb --
Though I than He -- may longer live
He longer must -- than I --
For I have but the power to kill,
Without -- the power to die --
755
No Bobolink -- reverse His Singing
When the only Tree
Ever He minded occupying
By the Farmer be --
Clove to the Root --
His Spacious Future --
Best Horizon -- gone --
Whose Music be His
Only Anodyne --
Brave Bobolink --
756
One Blessing had I than the rest
So larger to my Eyes
That I stopped gauging -- satisfied --
For this enchanted size --
It was the limit of my Dream --
The focus of my Prayer --
A perfect -- paralyzing Bliss --
Contented as Despair --
I knew no more of Want -- or Cold --
Phantasms both become
For this new Value in the Soul --
Supremest Earthly Sum --
The Heaven below the Heaven above --
Obscured with ruddier Blue --
Life's Latitudes leant over -- full --
The Judgment perished -- too --
Why Bliss so scantily disburse --
Why Paradise defer --
Why Floods be served to Us -- in Bowls --
I speculate no more --
757
The Mountains -- grow unnoticed --
Their Purple figures rise
Without attempt -- Exhaustion --
Assistance -- or Applause --
In Their Eternal Faces
The Sun -- with just delight
Looks long -- and last -- and golden --
For fellowship -- at night --
758
These -- saw Visions --
Latch them softly --
These -- held Dimples --
Smooth them slow --
This -- addressed departing accents --
Quick -- Sweet Mouth -- to miss thee so --
This -- We stroked --
Unnumbered Satin --
These -- we held among our own --
Fingers of the Slim Aurora --
Not so arrogant -- this Noon --
These -- adjust -- that ran to meet us --
Pearl -- for Stocking -- Pearl for Shoe --
Paradise -- the only Palace
Fit for Her reception -- now --
759
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 Him
As Other Men, were Coy of Death --
To Him -- to live -- was Doom --
His Comrades, shifted like the Flakes
When Gusts reverse the Snow --
But He -- was left alive Because
Of Greediness to die --
760
Most she touched me by her muteness --
Most she won me by the way
She presented her small figure --
Plea itself -- for Charity --
Were a Crumb my whole possession --
Were there famine in the land --
Were it my resource from starving --
Could I such a plea withstand --
Not upon her knee to thank me
Sank this Beggar from the Sky --
But the Crumb partook -- departed --
And returned On High --
I supposed -- when sudden
Such a Praise began
'Twas as Space sat singing
To herself -- and men --
'Twas the Winged Beggar --
Afterward I learned
To her Benefactor
Making Gratitude
761
From Blank to Blank --
A Threadless Way
I pushed Mechanic feet --
To stop -- or perish -- or advance --
Alike indifferent --
If end I gained
It ends beyond
Indefinite disclosed --
I shut my eyes -- and groped as well
'Twas lighter -- to be Blind --
762
The Whole of it came not at once --
'Twas Murder by degrees --
A Thrust -- and then for Life a chance --
The Bliss to cauterize --
The Cat reprieves the Mouse
She eases from her teeth
Just long enough for Hope to tease --
Then mashes it to death --
'Tis Life's award -- to die --
Contenteder if once --
Than dying half -- then rallying
For consciouser Eclipse --
763
He told a homely tale
And spotted it with tears --
Upon his infant face was set
The Cicatrice of years --
All crumpled was the cheek
No other kiss had known
Than flake of snow, divided with
The Redbreast of the Barn --
If Mother -- in the Grave --
Or Father -- on the Sea --
Or Father in the Firmament --
Or Brethren, had he --
If Commonwealth below,
Or Commonwealth above
Have missed a Barefoot Citizen --
I've ransomed it -- alive --
764
Presentiment -- is that long Shadow -- on the Lawn --
Indicatives that Suns go down --
The Notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness -- is about to pass --
765
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 --
766
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 -- upon the Hill --
And then abroad the World He go
To do His Golden Will --
And if His Yellow feet should miss --
The Bird would not arise --
The Flowers would slumber on their Stems --
No Bells have Paradise --
How dare I, therefore, stint a faith
On which so vast depends --
Lest Firmament should fail for me --
The Rivet in the Bands
767
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 -- stopped to earn --
768
When I hoped, I recollect
Just the place I stood --
At a Window facing West --
Roughest Air -- was good --
Not a Sleet could bite me --
Not a frost could cool --
Hope it was that kept me warm --
Not Merino shawl --
When I feared -- I recollect
Just the Day it was --
Worlds were lying out to Sun --
Yet how Nature froze --
Icicles upon my soul
Prickled Blue and Cool --
Bird went praising everywhere --
Only Me -- was still --
And the Day that I despaired --
This -- if I forget
Nature will -- that it be Night
After Sun has set --
Darkness intersect her face --
And put out her eye --
Nature hesitate -- before
Memory and I --
769
One and One -- are One --
Two -- be finished using --
Well enough for Schools --
But for Minor Choosing --
Life -- just -- or Death --
Or the Everlasting --
More -- would be too vast
For the Soul's Comprising --
770
I lived on Dread --
To Those who know
The Stimulus there is
In Danger -- Other impetus
Is numb -- and Vitalless --
As 'twere a Spur -- upon the Soul --
A Fear will urge it where
To go without the Sceptre's aid
Were Challenging Despair.
771
None can experience sting
Who Bounty -- have not known --
The fact of Famine -- could not be
Except for Fact of Corn --
Want -- is a meagre Art
Acquired by Reverse --
The Poverty that was not Wealth --
Cannot be Indigence.
772
The hallowing of Pain
Like hallowing of Heaven,
Obtains at a corporeal cost --
The Summit is not given
To Him who strives severe
At middle of the Hill --
But He who has achieved the Top --
All -- is the price of All --
773
Deprived of other Banquet,
I entertained Myself --
At first -- a scant nutrition --
An insufficient Loaf --
But grown by slender addings
To so esteemed a size
'Tis sumptuous enough for me --
And almost to suffice
A Robin's famine able --
Red Pilgrim, He and I --
A Berry from our table
Reserve -- for charity --
774
It is a lonesome Glee --
Yet sanctifies the Mind --
With fair association --
Afar upon the Wind
A Bird to overhear
Delight without a Cause --
Arrestless as invisible --
A matter of the Skies.
775
If Blame be my side -- forfeit Me --
But doom me not to forfeit Thee --
To forfeit Thee? The very name
Is sentence from Belief -- and House --
776
The Color of a Queen, is this --
The Color of a Sun
At setting -- this and Amber --
Beryl -- and this, at Noon --
And when at night -- Auroran widths
Fling suddenly on men --
'Tis this -- and Witchcraft -- nature keeps
A Rank -- for Iodine --
777
The Loneliness One dare not sound --
And would as soon surmise
As in its Grave go plumbing
To ascertain the size --
The Loneliness whose worst alarm
Is lest itself should see --
And perish from before itself
For just a scrutiny --
The Horror not to be surveyed --
But skirted in the Dark --
With Consciousness suspended --
And Being under Lock --
I fear me this -- is Loneliness --
The Maker of the soul
Its Caverns and its Corridors
Illuminate -- or seal --
778
This that would greet -- an hour ago --
Is quaintest Distance -- now --
Had it a Guest from Paradise --
Nor glow, would it, nor bow --
Had it a notice from the Noon
Nor beam would it nor warm --
Match me the Silver Reticence --
Match me the Solid Calm --
779
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 --
780
The Truth -- is stirless --
Other force -- may be presumed to move --
This -- then -- is best for confidence --
When oldest Cedars swerve --
And Oaks untwist their fists --
And Mountains -- feeble -- lean --
How excellent a Body, that
Stands without a Bone --
How vigorous a Force
That holds without a Prop --
Truth stays Herself -- and every man
That trusts Her -- boldly up --
781
To wait an Hour -- is long --
If Love be just beyond --
To wait Eternity -- is short --
If Love reward the end --
782
There is an arid Pleasure --
As different from Joy --
As Frost is different from Dew --
Like element -- are they --
Yet one -- rejoices Flowers --
And one -- the Flowers abhor --
The finest Honey -- curdled --
Is worthless -- to the Bee --
783
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 itself
To multiply the Pond.
Their Witnesses were not --
Except occasional man --
In homely industry arrayed --
To overtake the Morn --
Nor was it for applause --
That I could ascertain --
But independent Ecstasy
Of Deity and Men --
By Six, the Flood had done --
No Tumult there had been
Of Dressing, or Departure --
And yet the Band was gone --
The Sun engrossed the East --
The Day controlled the World --
The Miracle that introduced
Forgotten, as fulfilled.
784
Bereaved of all, I went abroad --
No less bereaved was I
Upon a New Peninsula --
The Grave preceded me --
Obtained my Lodgings, ere myself --
And when I sought my Bed --
The Grave it was reposed upon
The Pillow for my Head --
I waked to find it first awake --
I rose -- It followed me --
I tried to drop it in the Crowd --
To lose it in the Sea --
In Cups of artificial Drowse
To steep its shape away --
The Grave -- was finished -- but the Spade
Remained in Memory --
785
They have a little Odor -- that to me
Is metre -- nay -- 'tis melody --
And spiciest at fading -- indicate --
A Habit -- of a Laureate --
786
Severer Service of myself
I -- hastened to demand
To fill the awful Vacuum
Your life had left behind --
I worried Nature with my Wheels
When Hers had ceased to run --
When she had put away Her Work
My own had just begun.
I strove to weary Brain and Bone --
To harass to fatigue
The glittering Retinue of nerves --
Vitality to clog
To some dull comfort Those obtain
Who put a Head away
They knew the Hair to --
And forget the color of the Day --
Affliction would not be appeased --
The Darkness braced as firm
As all my stratagem had been
The Midnight to confirm --
No Drug for Consciousness -- can be --
Alternative to die
Is Nature's only Pharmacy
For Being's Malady --
787
Such is the Force of Happiness --
The Least -- can lift a Ton
Assisted by its stimulus --
Who Misery -- sustain --
No Sinew can afford --
The Cargo of Themselves --
Too infinite for Consciousness'
Slow capabilities.
788
Joy to have merited the Pain --
To merit the Release --
Joy to have perished every step --
To Compass Paradise --
Pardon -- to look upon thy face --
With these old fashioned Eyes --
Better than new -- could be -- for that --
Though bought in Paradise --
Because they looked on thee before --
And thou hast looked on them --
Prove Me -- My Hazel Witnesses
The features are the same --
So fleet thou wert, when present --
So infinite -- when gone --
An Orient's Apparition --
Remanded of the Morn --
The Height I recollect --
'Twas even with the Hills --
The Depth upon my Soul was notched --
As Floods -- on Whites of Wheels --
To Haunt -- till Time have dropped
His last Decade away,
And Haunting actualize -- to last
At least -- Eternity --
789
On a Columnar Self --
How ample to rely
In Tumult -- or Extremity --
How good the Certainty
That Lever cannot pry --
And Wedge cannot divide
Conviction -- That Granitic Base --
Though None be on our Side --
Suffice Us -- for a Crowd --
Ourself -- and Rectitude --
And that Assembly -- not far off
From furthest Spirit -- God --
790
Nature -- the Gentlest Mother is,
Impatient of no Child --
The feeblest -- or the waywardest --
Her Admonition mild --
In Forest -- and the Hill --
By Traveller -- be heard --
Restraining Rampant Squirrel --
Or too impetuous Bird --
How fair Her Conversation --
A Summer Afternoon --
Her Household -- Her Assembly --
And when the Sung go down --
Her Voice among the Aisles
Incite the timid prayer
Of the minutest Cricket --
The most unworthy Flower --
When all the Children sleep --
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light Her lamps --
Then bending from the Sky --
With infinite Affection --
And infiniter Care --
Her Golden finger on Her lip --
Wills Silence -- Everywhere --
791
God gave a Loaf to every Bird --
But just a Crumb -- to Me --
I dare not eat it -- tho' I starve --
My poignant luxury --
To own it -- touch it --
Prove the feat -- that made the Pellet mine --
Too happy -- for my Sparrow's chance --
For Ampler Coveting --
It might be Famine -- all around --
I could not miss an Ear --
Such Plenty smiles upon my Board --
My Garner shows so fair --
I wonder how the Rich -- may feel --
An Indiaman -- An Earl --
I deem that I -- with but a Crumb --
Am Sovereign of them all --
792
Through the strait pass of suffering --
The Martyrs -- even -- trod.
Their feet -- upon Temptations --
Their faces -- upon God --
A stately -- shriven -- Company --
Convulsion -- playing round --
Harmless -- as streaks of Meteor --
Upon a Planet's Bond --
Their faith -- the everlasting troth --
Their Expectation -- fair --
The Needle -- to the North Degree --
Wades -- so -- thro' polar Air!
793
Grief is a Mouse --
And chooses Wainscot in the Breast
For His Shy House --
And baffles quest --
Grief is a Thief -- quick startled --
Pricks His Ear -- report to hear
Of that Vast Dark --
That swept His Being -- back --
Grief is a Juggler -- boldest at the Play --
Lest if He flinch -- the eye that way
Pounce on His Bruises -- One -- say -- or Three --
Grief is a Gourmand -- spare His luxury --
Best Grief is Tongueless -- before He'll tell --
Burn Him in the Public Square --
His Ashes -- will
Possibly -- if they refuse -- How then know --
Since a Rack couldn't coax a syllable -- now.
794
A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree --
Another -- on the Roof --
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves --
And made the Gables laugh --
A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea --
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls --
What Necklace could be --
The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads --
The Birds jocoser sung --
The Sunshine threw his Hat away --
The Bushes -- spangles flung --
The Breezes brought dejected Lutes --
And bathed them in the Glee --
Then Orient showed a single Flag,
And signed the Fete away --
795
Her final Summer was it --
And yet We guessed it not --
If tenderer industriousness
Pervaded Her, We thought
A further force of life
Developed from within --
When Death lit all the shortness up
It made the hurry plain --
We wondered at our blindness
When nothing was to see
But Her Carrara Guide post --
At Our Stupidity --
When duller than our dullness
The Busy Darling lay --
So busy was she -- finishing --
So leisurely -- were We --
796
Who Giants know, with lesser Men
Are incomplete, and shy --
For Greatness, that is ill at ease
In minor Company --
A Smaller, could not be perturbed --
The Summer Gnat displays --
Unconscious that his single Fleet
Do not comprise the skies --
797
By my Window have I for Scenery
Just a Sea -- with a Stem --
If the Bird and the Farmer -- deem it a "Pine" --
The Opinion will serve -- for them --
It has no Port, nor a "Line" -- but the Jays --
That split their route to the Sky --
Or a Squirrel, whose giddy Peninsula
May be easier reached -- this way --
For Inlands -- the Earth is the under side --
And the upper side -- is the Sun --
And its Commerce -- if Commerce it have --
Of Spice -- I infer from the Odors borne --
Of its Voice -- to affirm -- when the Wind is within --
Can the Dumb -- define the Divine?
The Definition of Melody -- is --
That Definition is none --
It -- suggests to our Faith --
They -- suggest to our Sight --
When the latter -- is put away
I shall meet with Conviction I somewhere met
That Immortality --
Was the Pine at my Window a "Fellow
Of the Royal" Infinity?
Apprehensions -- are God's introductions --
To be hallowed -- accordingly --
798
She staked her Feathers -- Gained an Arc --
Debated -- Rose again --
This time -- beyond the estimate
Of Envy, or of Men --
And now, among Circumference --
Her steady Boat be seen --
At home -- among the Billows -- As
The Bough where she was born --
799
Despair's advantage is achieved
By suffering -- Despair --
To be assisted of Reverse
One must Reverse have bore --
The Worthiness of Suffering like
The Worthiness of Death
Is ascertained by tasting --
As can no other Mouth
Of Savors -- make us conscious --
As did ourselves partake --
Affliction feels impalpable
Until Ourselves are struck --