• 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

    Till I got in —

    Or make him fast

    To "Toby's" fist —

    Hist! Whist! I'd come!

  • It always felt to me — a wrong

    It always felt to me — a wrong

    To that Old Moses — done —

    To let him see — the Canaan —

    Without the entering —


    And tho' in soberer moments —

    No Moses there can be

    I'm satisfied — the Romance

    In point of injury —


    Surpasses sharper stated —

    Of Stephen — or of...

  • It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —

    It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon —

    The Flower — distinct and Red —

    I, passing, thought another Noon

    Another in its stead


    Will equal glow, and thought no More

    But came another Day

    To find the Species disappeared —

    The Same Locality —


    The Sun in place — no other fraud...

  • It came at last but prompter Death

    It came at last but prompter Death

    Had occupied the House —

    His pallid Furniture arranged

    And his metallic Peace —


    Oh faithful Frost that kept the Date

    Had Love as punctual been

    Delight had aggrandized the Gate

    And blocked the coming in.

  • It came his turn to beg —

    It came his turn to beg —

    The begging for the life

    Is different from another Alms

    'Tis Penury in Chief —


    I scanned his narrow realm

    I gave him leave to live

    Lest Gratitude revive the snake

    Though smuggled his reprieve

  • It can't be "Summer"!

    It can't be "Summer"!

    That — got through!

    It's early — yet — for "Spring"!

    There's that long town of White — to cross —

    Before the Blackbirds sing!

    It can't be "Dying"!

    It's too Rouge —

    The Dead shall go in White —

    So Sunset shuts my question down

    With Cuffs of...

  • It ceased to hurt me, though so slow

    It ceased to hurt me, though so slow

    I could not feel the Anguish go —

    But only knew by looking back —

    That something — had benumbed the Track —


    Nor when it altered, I could say,

    For I had worn it, every day,

    As constant as the Childish frock —

    I hung upon the Peg, at night.
    ...

  • It did not surprise me —

    It did not surprise me —

    So I said — or thought —

    She will stir her pinions

    And the nest forgot,


    Traverse broader forests —

    Build in gayer boughs,

    Breathe in Ear more modern

    God's old fashioned vows —


    This was but a Birdling —

    What and if it be

    ...

  • It don't sound so terrible — quite — as it did —

    It don't sound so terrible — quite — as it did —

    I run it over — "Dead", Brain, "Dead."

    Put it in Latin — left of my school —

    Seems it don't shriek so — under rule.


    Turn it, a little — full in the face

    A Trouble looks bitterest —

    Shift it — just —

    Say "When Tomorrow comes this way —...

  • It dropped so low — in my Regard —

    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 —