If I'm lost — now
That I was found —
Shall still my transport be —
That once — on me — those Jasper Gates
Blazed open — suddenly —
That in my awkward — gazing — face —
The Angels — softly peered —
And touched me with their fleeces,
Almost as if they cared —
I'm...
* * *
If it is True What the Prophets write
That the heathen Gods are all stocks & stones
Shall we for the sake of being Polite
Feed them with the juice of our marrow bones
5And if Bezaleel &...
If my Bark sink
'Tis to another sea —
Mortality's Ground Floor
Is Immortality —
If pain for peace prepares
Lo, what "Augustan" years
Our feet await!
If springs from winter rise,
Can the Anemones
Be reckoned up?
If night stands fast — then noon
To gird us for the sun,
What gaze!
When from a thousand skies
On our...
If recollecting is forgetting,
then I remember yet.
And if forgetting, recollecting,
how near I shall forget.
And if to miss, were merry,
and to mourn, were gay,
how very blithe the fingers
that gather this today
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 —
I'll deck Tradition's buttonhole —
And send the Rose to you.
If this is "fading"
Oh let me immediately "fade"!
If this is "dying"
Bury me, in such a shroud of red!
If this is "sleep,"
On such a night
How proud to shut the eye!
Good Evening, gentle Fellow men!
Peacock presumes to die!
If those I loved were lost
The Crier's voice would tell me —
If those I loved were found
The bells of Ghent would ring —
Did those I loved repose
The Daisy would impel me.
Philip — when bewildered
Bore his riddle in!
If What we could — were what we would —
Criterion — be small —
It is the Ultimate of Talk —
The Impotence to Tell —
* * *
If you trap the moment before its ripe
The tears of repentance youll certainly wipe
But if once you let the ripe moment go
You can never wipe off the tears of woe[3]