• 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,

    Possession — has a sweeter chink

    Unto a Miser's Ear —

  • 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
    ...

  • Could Hope inspect her Basis

    Her Craft were done —

    Has a fictitious Charter

    Or it has none —


    Balked in the vastest instance

    But to renew —

    Felled by but one assassin —

    Prosperity —

  • Could I but ride indefinite

    As doth the Meadow Bee

    And visit only where I liked

    And No one visit me


    And flirt all Day with Buttercups

    And marry whom I may

    And dwell a little everywhere

    Or better, run away


    With no Police to follow

    Or chase Him if He do...

  • Could I — then — shut the door —

    Lest my beseeching face — at last —

    Rejected — be — of Her?

  • Could live — did live —

    Could die — did die —

    Could smile upon the whole

    Through faith in one he met not,

    To introduce his soul.


    Could go from scene familiar

    To an untraversed spot —

    Could contemplate the journey

    With unpuzzled heart —


    Such trust had one...

  • Could mortal lip divine

    The undeveloped Freight

    Of a delivered syllable

    'Twould crumble with the weight.

  • Could that sweet Darkness where they dwell

    Be once disclosed to us

    The clamor for their loveliness

    Would burst the Loneliness —

  • Could — I do more — for Thee —

    Wert Thou a Bumble Bee —

    Since for the Queen, have I —

    Nought but Bouquet?

  • Extol thee — could I? Then I will

    By saying nothing new —

    But just the truest truth

    That thou art heavenly.


    Perceiving thee is evidence

    That we are of the sky

    Partaking thee a guaranty

    Of immortality