* * *
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
-
-
I had a daily Bliss
I half indifferent viewed
Till sudden I perceived it stir —
It grew as I pursued
Till when around a Height
It wasted from my sight
Increased beyond my utmost scope
I learned to estimate. -
I had no Cause to be awake —
My Best — was gone to sleep —
And Morn a new politeness took —
And failed to wake them up —
But called the others — clear —
And passed their Curtains by —
Sweet Morning — when I oversleep —
Knock — Recollect — to Me —
I looked at Sunrise —...I had some things that I called mine —
And God, that he called his,
Till, recently a rival Claim
Disturbed these amities.
The property, my garden,
Which having sown with care,
He claims the pretty acre,
And sends a Bailiff there.
The station of the parties
...I have no Life but this —
To lead it here —
Nor any Death — but lest
Dispelled from there —
Nor tie to Earths to come —
Nor Action new —
Except through this extent —
The Realm of you —I heard a Fly buzz — when I died —
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air —
Between the Heaves of Storm —
The Eyes around — had wrung them dry —
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset — when the King
Be witnessed — in the Room —
I...
* * *
I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing,
‘Mercy, Pity, Peace,
Is the world’s release.’
Thus he sung all day
Over the new mown hay,
Till the sun went down
And haycocks looked brown.
I heard a Devil curse
...I heard, as if I had no Ear
Until a Vital Word
Came all the way from Life to me
And then I knew I heard.
I saw, as if my Eye were on
Another, till a Thing
And now I know 'twas Light, because
It fitted them, came in.
I dwelt, as if Myself, were out,
My Body...I hide myself within my flower,
That fading from your Vase,
You, unsuspecting, feel for me —
Almost a loneliness.I knew that I had gained
And yet I knew not how
By Diminution it was not
But Discipline unto
A Rigor unrelieved
Except by the Content
Another bear its Duplicate
In other Continent.