I know a place where Summer strives
With such a practised Frost —
She — each year — leads her Daisies back —
Recording briefly — "Lost" —
But when the South Wind stirs the Pools
And struggles in the lanes —
Her Heart misgives Her, for Her Vow —
And she pours soft Refrains
...
I know lives, I could miss
Without a Misery —
Others — whose instant's wanting —
Would be Eternity —
The last — a scanty Number —
'Twould scarcely fill a Two —
The first — a Gnat's Horizon
Could easily outgrow —
I know Suspense — it steps so terse
And turns so weak away —
Besides — Suspense is neighborly
When I am riding by —
Is always at the Window
Though lately I descry
And mention to my Horses
The need is not of me —
I know that He exists.
Somewhere — in Silence —
He has hid his rare life
From our gross eyes.
'Tis an instant's play.
'Tis a fond Ambush —
Just to make Bliss
Earn her own surprise!
But — should the play
Prove piercing earnest —
Should the glee...
(The original text)
* * *
I laid me down upon a bank
Where love lay sleeping
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping Weeping
5Then I went to the heath & the wild
To...
I learned — at least — what Home could be —
How ignorant I had been
Of pretty ways of Covenant —
How awkward at the Hymn
Round our new Fireside — but for this —
This pattern — of the Way —
Whose Memory drowns me, like the Dip
Of a Celestial Sea —
What Mornings in our...
I like a look of Agony,
Because I know it's true —
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe —
The Eyes glaze once — and that is Death —
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.
I live with Him — I see His face —
I go no more away
For Visitor — or Sundown —
Death's single privacy
The Only One — forestalling Mine —
And that — by Right that He
Presents a Claim invisible —
No wedlock — granted Me —
I live with Him — I hear His Voice —
...
I lived on Dread —
To Those who know
The Stimulus there is
In Danger — Other impetus
Is numb — and Vitalless —
As 'twere a Spur — upon the Soul —
A Fear will urge it where
To go without the Sceptre's aid
Were Challenging Despair.
I lost a World — the other day!
Has Anybody found?
You'll know it by the Row of Stars
Around its forehead bound.
A Rich man — might not notice it —
Yet — to my frugal Eye,
Of more Esteem than Ducats —
Oh find it — Sir — for me!