Such a starved bank of moss
    Till, that May morn,
Blue ran the flash across:
    Violets were born!

Sky—what a scowl of cloud
    Till, near and far,
Ray on ray split the shroud:
    Splendid, a star!

World—how it walled...

As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies

As the Vulture teased

Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys

As the Tiger eased


By but a Crumb of Blood, fasts Scarlet

Till he meet a Man

Dainty adorned with...

Poet:

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 —
...

Poet:

TIME was when I was free as air,

The thistle's downy seed my fare,

   My drink the morning dew;

I perch'd at will on ev'ry spray,

My form genteel, my plumage gay,

   My strains for ever new.


But...

Poet: