On Western plains, where shade is not,
'Neath summer skies of cloudless blue,
Where all is dry and all is hot,
There stands the town of Dandaloo --
A township where life's total sum
Is sleep, diversified with rum.
Its grass-grown streets with dust are deep;
'Twere vain endeavour to...
If all the griefs I am to have
Would only come today,
I am so happy I believe
They'd laugh and run away.
If all the joys I am to have
Would only come today,
They could not be so big as this
That happens to me now.
If any sink, assure that this, now standing —
Failed like Themselves — and conscious that it rose —
Grew by the Fact, and not the Understanding
How Weakness passed — or Force — arose —
Tell that the Worst, is easy in a Moment —
Dread, but the Whizzing, before the Ball —
When the Ball enters, enters...
If anybody's friend be dead
It's sharpest of the theme
The thinking how they walked alive —
At such and such a time —
Their costume, of a Sunday,
Some manner of the Hair —
A prank nobody knew but them
Lost, in the Sepulchre —
How warm, they were, on such a day,
...
If Blame be my side — forfeit Me —
But doom me not to forfeit Thee —
To forfeit Thee? The very name
Is sentence from Belief — and House —
If ever the lid gets off my head
And lets the brain away
The fellow will go where he belonged —
Without a hint from me,
And the world — if the world be looking on —
Will see how far from home
It is possible for sense to live
The soul there — all the time.
If He dissolve — then — there is nothing — more —
Eclipse — at Midnight —
It was dark — before —
Sunset — at Easter —
Blindness — on the Dawn —
Faint Star of Bethlehem —
Gone down!
Would but some God — inform Him —
Or it be too late!
Say — that the pulse just...
If He were living — dare I ask —
And how if He be dead —
And so around the Words I went —
Of meeting them — afraid —
I hinted Changes — Lapse of Time —
The Surfaces of Years —
I touched with Caution — lest they crack —
And show me to my fears —
Reverted to adjoining...
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain ;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
If I could bribe them by a Rose
I'd bring them every flower that grows
From Amherst to Cashmere!
I would not stop for night, or storm —
Or frost, or death, or anyone —
My business were so dear!
If they would linger for a Bird
My Tambourin were soonest heard
Among the April...