I think the longest Hour of all
Is when the Cars have come —
And we are waiting for the Coach —
It seems as though the Time
Indignant — that the Joy was come —
Did block the Gilded Hands —
And would not let the Seconds by —
But slowest instant — ends —
The Pendulum...
I think to Live — may be a Bliss
To those who dare to try —
Beyond my limit to conceive —
My lip — to testify —
I think the Heart I former wore
Could widen — till to me
The Other, like the little Bank
Appear — unto the Sea —
I think the Days — could every one
...
I thought that nature was enough
Till Human nature came
But that the other did absorb
As Parallax a Flame —
Of Human nature just aware
There added the Divine
Brief struggle for capacity
The power to contain
Is always as the contents
But give a Giant room...
I thought the Train would never come —
How slow the whistle sang —
I don't believe a peevish Bird
So whimpered for the Spring —
I taught my Heart a hundred times
Precisely what to say —
Provoking Lover, when you came
Its Treatise flew away
To hide my strategy too late
...
I tie my Hat — I crease my Shawl —
Life's little duties do — precisely —
As the very least
Were infinite — to me —
I put new Blossoms in the Glass —
And throw the old — away —
I push a petal from my Gown
That anchored there — I weigh
The time 'twill be till six o'clock...
I took my Power in my Hand —
And went against the World —
'Twas not so much as David — had —
But I — was twice as bold —
I aimed by Pebble — but Myself
Was all the one that fell —
Was it Goliath — was too large —
Or was myself — too small?
I took one Draught of Life —
I'll tell you what I paid —
Precisely an existence —
The market price, they said.
They weighed me, Dust by Dust —
They balanced Film with Film,
Then handed me my Being's worth —
A single Dram of Heaven!
I tried to think a lonelier Thing
Than any I had seen —
Some Polar Expiation — An Omen in the Bone
Of Death's tremendous nearness —
I probed Retrieveless things
My Duplicate — to borrow —
A Haggard Comfort springs
From the belief that Somewhere —
Within the Clutch of...
I was a Phoebe — nothing more —
A Phoebe — nothing less —
The little note that others dropt
I fitted into place —
I dwelt too low that any seek —
Too shy, that any blame —
A Phoebe makes a little print
Upon the Floors of Fame —
I was the slightest in the House —
I took the smallest Room —
At night, my little Lamp, and Book —
And one Geranium —
So stationed I could catch the Mint
That never ceased to fall —
And just my Basket —
Let me think — I'm sure —
That this was all —
I never...