Where every bird is bold to go
And bees abashless play,
The foreigner before he knocks
Must thrust the tears away.
-
-
Where I have lost, I softer tread —
I sow sweet flower from garden bed —
I pause above that vanished head
And mourn.
Whom I have lost, I pious guard
From accent harsh, or ruthless word —
Feeling as if their pillow heard,
Though stone!
When I have lost, you'll know by...Where Roses would not dare to go,
What Heart would risk the way —
And so I send my Crimson Scouts
To sound the Enemy —Where Ships of Purple — gently toss —
On Seas of Daffodil —
Fantastic Sailors — mingle —
And then — the Wharf is still!Where Thou art — that — is Home —
Cashmere — or Calvary — the same —
Degree — or Shame —
I scarce esteem Location's Name —
So I may Come —
What Thou dost — is Delight —
Bondage as Play — be sweet —
Imprisonment — Content —
And Sentence — Sacrament —
Just We two...Whether my bark went down at sea,
Whether she met with gales,
Whether to isles enchanted
She bent her docile sails ;
By what mystic mooring
She is held to-day, —
This is the errand of the eye
Out upon the...Whether they have forgotten
Or are forgetting now
Or never remembered —
Safer not to know —
Miseries of conjecture
Are a softer woe
Than a Fact of Iron
Hardened with I know —Which is best? Heaven —
Or only Heaven to come
With that old Codicil of Doubt?
I cannot help esteem
The "Bird within the Hand"
Superior to the one
The "Bush" may yield me
Or may not
Too late to choose again.Which is the best — the Moon or the Crescent?
Neither — said the Moon —
That is best which is not — Achieve it —
You efface the Sheen.
Not of detention is Fruition —
Shudder to attain.
Transport's decomposition follows —
He is Prism born.Which misses most,
...
The hand that tends,
Or heart so gently borne,
'Tis twice as heavy as it was
Because the hand is gone?
Which blesses most,
The lip that can,
Or that that went to sleep
With "if I could" endeavoring
Without the strength to shape?