• I started Early — Took my Dog —

    And visited the Sea —

    The Mermaids in the Basement

    Came out to look at me —


    And Frigates — in the Upper Floor

    Extended Hempen Hands —

    Presuming Me to be a Mouse —

    Aground — upon the Sands —


    But no Man moved Me — till the Tide
    ...



  •  * * *


    An old maid early eer I knew

    Ought but the love that on me grew

    And now Im coverd oer & oer

    And wish that I had been a Whore


    O I cannot cannot find

    The undaunted courage of a Virgin Mind

    For Early I in love was crost

    Before my flower of...

  •         More proudly on thy winding course,

                Dark Alleghany! flow;

            The noblest burden thou couldst bear

                Is on thy waters now.

     

            But calm be every turbid wave,

                And hushed be wind and storm:

            There lies a Nation's destiny
    ...