Not in this world to see his face
Sounds long, until I read the place
Where this is said to be
But just the primer to a life
Unopened, rare, upon the shelf,
Clasped yet to him and me.
And yet, my primer suits me so...
The first We knew of Him was Death —
The second — was — Renown —
Except the first had justified
The second had not been.
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain ;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering ;
And then, to go to sleep ;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The...
The Popular Heart is a Cannon first —
Subsequent a Drum —
Bells for an Auxiliary
And an Afterward of Rum —
Not a Tomorrow to know its name
Nor a Past to stare —
Ditches for Realms and a Trip to Jail
For a Souvenir —
"'Tis the first snow—
Just enough to bend
The gladiolus leaves!"[1]
We thirst at first — 'tis Nature's Act —
And later — when we die —
A little Water supplicate —
Of fingers going by —
It intimates the finer want —
Whose adequate supply
Is that Great Water in the West —
Termed Immortality —