• Terror in the house does roar


    * * *


    Terror in the house does roar

    But Pity stands before the door

  • The Bustle in a House

    The bustle in a house

    The morning after death

    Is solemnest of industries

    Enacted upon earth, —


    The sweeping up the heart,

    And putting love away

    We shall not want to use again

    Until eternity.

  • The Lonely House

    A pair of spectacles afar just stir —

    An almanac 's aware.

    Was it the mat winked,

    Or a nervous star ?

    The moon slides down the stair

    To see who 's there.


    There 's plunder, — where ?

    Tankard, or spoon,

    Earring, or stone,

    A watch, some ancient brooch

    To...

  • The Props assist the House

    The Props assist the House

    Until the House is built

    And then the Props withdraw

    And adequate, erect,

    The House support itself

    And cease to recollect

    The Auger and the Carpenter —

    Just such a retrospect

    Hath the perfected Life —

    A past of Plank and Nail

    And...

  • The way Hope builds his House

    The way Hope builds his House

    It is not with a sill —

    Nor Rafter — has that Edifice

    But only Pinnacle —


    Abode in as supreme

    This superficies

    As if it were of Ledges smit

    Or mortised with the Laws —

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House,

    There's been a Death, in the Opposite House,

    As lately as Today —

    I know it, by the numb look

    Such Houses have — alway —


    The Neighbors rustle in and out —

    The Doctor — drives away —

    A Window opens like a Pod —

    Abrupt — mechanically —


    Somebody flings a Mattress out —...

  • To Celia. Occasioned by her apprehending her house would be broke open, and having an old fellow to guard it, who sat up all night, with a gun without any ammunition.

    CUPID CALLED TO ACCOUNT.


       LAST night, as my unwilling mind

    To rest, dear Celia, I resign'd;

    For how should I repose enjoy,

    While any fears your breast annoy?

    Forbid it, heav'n, that I should be

    From any of your troubles free.

    O! would kind Fate attend my pray'r,
    ...

  • Too little way the House must lie

    Too little way the House must lie

    From every Human Heart

    That holds in undisputed Lease

    A white inhabitant —


    Too narrow is the Right between —

    Too imminent the chance —

    Each Consciousness must emigrate

    And lose its neighbor once —

  • Who occupies this House?

    Who occupies this House?

    A Stranger I must judge

    Since No one know His Circumstance —

    'Tis well the name and age


    Are writ upon the Door

    Or I should fear to pause

    Where not so much as Honest Dog

    Approach encourages.


    It seems a curious Town —

    Some Houses very...