O captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,...
-
-
After an interval, reading, here in the midnight,
With the great stars looking on—all the stars of Orion looking,
And the silent Pleiades—and the duo looking of Saturn and ruddy Mars;
Pondering, reading my own songs, after a long interval, (sorrow and death familiar now)
Ere closing the book, what pride! what joy! to find them
Standing so well the test... -
Darest thou now, O soul,
Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?No map there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.I know it not, O soul!
Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,—... -
Life
our share of night to bear,
Our share of morning,
Our blank in bliss to fill,
Our blank in scorning.Here a star, and there a star,
Some lose their way.
Here a mist, and there a mist,
Afterwards—day!A BOOK
HE ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he... -
Choice
of all the souls that stand create
I have elected one.
When sense from spirit files away,
And subterfuge is done;When that which is and that which was
Apart, intrinsic, stand,
And this brief tragedy of flesh
Is shifted like a sand;When figures show their royal front
And mists are carved away,—
... -
The waking YEAR
A LADY red upon the hill
Her annual secret keeps;
A lady white within the field
In placid lily sleeps!The tidy breezes with their brooms
Sweep vail, and hill, and tree!
Prithee, my pretty housewives!
Who may expected be?The neighbors do not yet suspect!
The woods exchange a smile,—... -
Too late
delayed till she had ceased to know,
Delayed till in its vest of snow
Her loving bosom lay:
An hour behind the fleeting breath,
Later by just an hour than death,—
Oh, lagging yesterday!Could she have guessed that it would be;
Could but a crier of the glee
Have climbed the distant hill;
Had not the... -
O lonesome sea-gull, floating far
Over the ocean’s icy waste,
Aimless and wide thy wanderings are,
Forever vainly seeking rest:—
Where is thy mate, and where thy nest?’Twixt wintry sea and wintry sky,
Cleaving the keen air with thy breast,
Thou sailest slowly, solemnly;
No fetter on thy wing is pressed:—
... -
My dearling!—thus, in days long fled,
In spite of creed and court and queen,
King Henry wrote to Anne Boleyn,—
The dearest pet name ever said,
And dearly purchased, too, I ween!Poor child! she played a losing game:
She won a heart,—so Henry said,—
But ah, the price she gave instead!
Men’s hearts, at best, are but a... -
You who dread the cares and labors
Of the tenant’s annual quest,
You who long for peace and rest,
And the quietest of neighbors,
You may find them, if you will,
In the city on the hill.One indulgent landlord leases
All the pleasant dwellings there;
He has tenants everywhere,—
Every day the throng increases;...