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I would not paint — a picture —
I'd rather be the One
Its bright impossibility
To dwell — delicious — on —
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare — celestial — stir —
Evokes so sweet a Torment —
Such sumptuous — Despair —
I would not talk, like Cornets —
I'd...If What we could — were what we would —
Criterion — be small —
It is the Ultimate of Talk —
The Impotence to Tell —
* * *
In a wife I would desire
What in whores is always found
The lineaments of Gratified desire[3]It would have starved a Gnat —
To live so small as I —
And yet I was a living Child —
With Food's necessity
Upon me — like a Claw —
I could no more remove
Than I could coax a Leech away —
Or make a Dragon — move —
Not like the Gnat — had I —
The privilege...It would never be Common — more — I said —
Difference — had begun —
Many a bitterness — had been —
But that old sort — was done —
Or — if it sometime — showed — as 'twill —
Upon the Downiest — Morn —
Such bliss — had I — for all the years —
'Twould give an Easier — pain —
...It would not know if it were spurned,
This gallant little flower —
How therefore safe to be a flower
If one would tamper there.
To enter, it would not aspire —
But may it not despair
That it is not a Cavalier,
To dare and perish there?This that would greet — an hour ago —
Is quaintest Distance — now —
Had it a Guest from Paradise —
Nor glow, would it, nor bow —
Had it a notice from the Noon
Nor beam would it nor warm —
Match me the Silver Reticence —
Match me the Solid Calm —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,
...And wishes, had he any?
Just his sigh, accented,
Had been legible to me.
And was he confident until
Ill fluttered out in everlasting well?
And if he spoke, what name was best,
What first,
What one broke off with
At the drowsiest?
Was he afraid, or tranquil...