• I fear a Man of frugal Speech —

    I fear a Silent Man —

    Haranguer — I can overtake —

    Or Babbler — entertain —


    But He who weigheth — While the Rest —

    Expend their furthest pound —

    Of this Man — I am wary —

    I fear that He is Grand —



  •  * * *


    I fear’d the fury of my wind

    Would blight all blossoms fair & true,

    And my sun it shin’d & shin’d,

    And my wind it never blew.


    But a blossom fair or true

    Was not found on any tree;

    For all blossoms grew & grew

    Fruitless, false, tho’ fair...

  • I felt a Cleaving in my Mind —

    As if my Brain had split —

    I tried to match it — Seam by Seam —

    But could not make them fit.


    The thought behind, I strove to join

    Unto the thought before —

    But Sequence ravelled out of Sound

    Like Balls — upon a Floor.

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

    And Mourners to and fro

    Kept treading — treading — till it seemed

    That Sense was breaking through —


    And when they all were seated,

    A Service, like a Drum —

    Kept beating — beating — till I thought

    My Mind was going numb —


    And then I heard...

  • I felt my life with both my hands

    To see if it was there —

    I held my spirit to the Glass,

    To prove it possibler —


    I turned my Being round and round

    And paused at every pound

    To ask the Owner's name —

    For doubt, that I should know the Sound —


    I judged my features —...

  • I fit for them —

    I seek the Dark

    Till I am thorough fit.

    The labor is a sober one

    With this sufficient sweet

    That abstinence of mine produce

    A purer food for them, if I succeed,

    If not I had

    The transport of the Aim —

  • I found the words to every thought

    I ever had — but One —

    And that — defies me —

    As a Hand did try to chalk the Sun


    To Races — nurtured in the Dark —

    How would your own — begin?

    Can Blaze be shown in Cochineal —

    Or Noon — in Mazarin?

  • I gained it so —

    By Climbing slow —

    By Catching at the Twigs that grow

    Between the Bliss — and me —

    It hung so high

    As well the Sky

    Attempt by Strategy —


    I said I gained it —

    This — was all —

    Look, how I clutch it

    Lest it fall —

    And I a...

  • I gave myself to Him —

    And took Himself, for Pay,

    The solemn contract of a Life

    Was ratified, this way —


    The Wealth might disappoint —

    Myself a poorer prove

    Than this great Purchaser suspect,

    The Daily Own — of Love


    Depreciate the Vision —

    But till the...


  • * * *


    I give you the end of a golden string[3]

    Only wind it into a ball

    It will lead you in at Heavens gate

    Built in Jerusalems wall