Dark and rainy is the night,
There's no a star in a' the carry;
Lightnings gleam athwart the lift,
And the cauld winds drive wi' winter's fury.
O! are ye sleepin', Maggie?
O! are ye sleepin', Maggie?
Let me in, for loud the linn
Is roarin' o'er the warlock craigie!...
A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe—
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."
Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain...
Yes; when the ways oppose —
When the hard means rebel,
Fairer the work outgrows, —
More potent far the spell.
O POET, then, forbear
The loosely-sandalled verse,
Choose rather thou to wear
The buskin — straight and terse;
Leave to the tiro...
Art thou the thing I wanted?
Begone — my Tooth has grown —
Supply the minor Palate
That has not starved so long —
I tell thee while I waited
The mystery of Food
Increased till I abjured it
And dine without Like God —
—
Art thou the thing I wanted?
...
Artists wrestled here!
Lo, a tint Cashmere!
Lo, a Rose!
Student of the Year!
For the easel here
Say Repose!
As children bid the guest good-night,
And then reluctant turn,
My flowers raise their pretty lips,
Then put their nightgowns on.
As children caper when they wake,
Merry that it is morn,
My flowers from a hundred cribs...
As far from pity, as complaint —
As cool to speech — as stone —
As numb to Revelation
As if my Trade were Bone —
As far from time — as History —
As near yourself — Today —
As Children, to the Rainbow's scarf —
Or Sunset's Yellow play
To eyelids in the Sepulchre —...
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 a Bird
Defrauded of its song.
As Frost is best conceived
By force of its Result —
Affliction is inferred
By subsequent effect —
If when the sun reveal,
The Garden keep the Gash —
If as the Days resume
The wilted countenance
Cannot correct the crease
Or counteract the stain —
...