Joy to have merited the Pain —

Joy to have merited the Pain —
To merit the Release —
Joy to have perished every step —
To Compass Paradise —

Pardon — to look opon thy face —
With these old fashioned Eyes —
Better than new — could be — for that —
Though bought in Paradise —

Because they looked on thee before —
And thou hast Looked on them —
Prove Me — My Hazel Witnesses
The features are the same —

So fleet thou wert, when present —
So infinite — when gone —
An Orient's Apparition —
Remanded of the Morn —

The Hight I recollect —
'Twas even with the Hills —
The Depth opon my Soul was notched —
As Floods — on Whites of Wheels —

To Haunt — till Time have dropped
His last Decade away,
And Haunting actualize — to last
At least — Eternity —

Guest am I to have

Guest am I to have
Light my northern room
Why to cordiality so averse to come
Other friends adjourn
Other bonds decay
Why avoid so narrowly
My fidelity —

Defrauded I a Butterfly —

Defrauded I a Butterfly
The lawful Heir — for Thee —

As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies

As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies
As the Vulture teazed
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 Veins and Tissues
And partakes — his Tongue

Cooled by the Morsel for a moment
Grows a fiercer thing
Till he esteem his Dates and Cocoa
A Nutrition mean

I, of a finer Famine
Deem my Supper dry
For but a Berry of Domingo
And a Torrid Eye —

The Trees like Tassels — hit — and swung —

The Trees like Tassels — hit — and swung —
There seemed to rise a Tune
From Miniature Creatures
Accompanying the Sun —

Far Psalteries of Summer —
Enamoring the Ear
They never yet did satisfy —
Remotest — when most fair

The Sun shone whole at intervals —
Then Half — then utter hid —
As if Himself were optional
And had Estates of Cloud

Sufficient to enfold Him
Eternally from view —
Except it were a whim of His
To let the Orchards grow —

A Bird sat careless on the fence —
One gossipped in the Lane
On silver matters charmed a Snake
Just winding round a stone —

Bright Flowers slit a Calyx
And soared opon a stem
Like Hindered Flags — Sweet hoisted —
With Spices — in the Hem —

'Twas more — I cannot mention —
How mean — to those that see —
Vandyke's Delineation
Of Nature's — Summer Day!

Escaping backward to perceive

Escaping backward to perceive
The Sea opon our place —
Escaping forward, to confront
His glittering Embrace —

Retreating up, a Billow's hight
Retreating blinded down
Our undermining feet to meet
Instructs to the Divine.

Ourselves were wed one summer — dear —

Ourselves were wed one summer — dear —
Your Vision — was in June —
And when Your little Lifetime failed,
I wearied — too — of mine —

And overtaken in the Dark —
Where You had put me down —
By Some one carrying a Light —
I — too — received the Sign —

'Tis true — Our Futures different lay —
Your Cottage — faced the sun —
While Oceans — and the North must be —
On every side of mine

'Tis true, Your Garden led the Bloom,
For mine — in Frosts — was sown —
And yet, one Summer, we were Queens —
But You — were crowned in June —

Up Life's Hill with my little Bundle

Up Life’s Hill with my little Bundle
If I prove it steep —
If a Discouragement withold me —
If my newest step

Older feel than the Hope that prompted —
Spotless be from blame
Heart that proposed as Heart that accepted
Homelessness, for Home —

I could suffice for Him, I knew —

I could suffice for Him, I knew —
He — could suffice for Me —
Yet Hesitating Fractions — Both
Surveyed Infinity —

"Would I be Whole" He sudden broached —
My Syllable rebelled —
'Twas face to face with Nature — forced —
'Twas face to face with God —

Withdrew the Sun — to other Wests —
Withdrew the furthest Star
Before Decision — stooped to speech —
And then — be audibler

The Answer of the Sea unto
The Motion of the Moon —
Herself adjust Her Tides — unto —
Could I — do else — with Mine?

A Clock stopped —

A Clock stopped —
Not the Mantel's —
Geneva's farthest skill
Cant put the puppet bowing
That just now dangled still —

An awe came on the Trinket!
The Figures hunched — with pain —
Then quivered out of Decimals —
Into Degreeless noon —

It will not stir for Doctor's —
This Pendulum of snow —
The Shopman importunes it —
While cool — concernless No —

Nods from the Gilded pointers —
Nods from the Seconds slim —
Decades of Arrogance between
The Dial life —
And Him —

                               in fond memory of Peter Radding

Crisis is a Hair

Crisis is a Hair
Toward which forces creep
Past which — forces retrogade
If it come in sleep

To suspend the Breath
Is the most we can
Ignorant is it Life or Death
Nicely balancing —

Let an instant push
Or an Atom press
Or a Circle hesitate
In Circumference

It may jolt the Hand
That adjusts the Hair
That secures Eternity
From presenting — Here —

The name — of it— is "Autumn" —

The name — of it — is "Autumn" —
The hue — of it — is Blood —
An Artery — opon the Hill —
A Vein — along the Road —

Great Globules — in the Alleys —
And Oh, the Shower of Stain —
When Winds — upset the Basin —
And spill the Scarlet Rain —

It sprinkles Bonnets — far below —
It gathers ruddy Pools —
Then — eddies like a Rose — away —
Opon Vermillion Wheels —

His Mansion in the Pool

His Mansion in the Pool
The Frog forsakes
He rises on a Log
And statements makes —
His Auditors two Worlds
Deducting me —
The Orator of April
Is hoarse Today —
His Mittens at his Feet
No Hand Hath he —
His eloquence a Bubble
As Fame should be —
Applaud him to discover
To your chagrin
Demosthenes has vanished
In Waters Green —

Two Butterflies went out at Noon

Two Butterflies went out at Noon
And waltzed opon a Farm
And then espied Circumference
And caught a ride with him —
Then lost themselves and found themselves
In eddies of the sun
Till Gravitation missed them —
And Both were wrecked in Noon —
To all surviving Butterflies
Be this Fatuity
Example — and monition
To entomology —

Through lane it lay — through bramble —

Through lane it lay — thro' bramble —
Through clearing and thro' wood —
Banditti often passed us
Opon the lonely road.

The wolf came peering curious —
The Owl looked puzzled down —
The serpent's satin figure
Glid stealthily along —

The tempests touched our garments —
The lightning's poinards gleamed —
Fierce from the Crag above us
The hungry Vulture screamed —

The Satyr's fingers beckoned —
The Valley murmured "Come" —
These were the mates —
This was the road
These children fluttered home.

Who occupies this House?

Who occupies this House?
A Stranger I must judge
Since No one knows His Circumstance —
'Tis well the name and age

Are writ opon the Door
Or I should fear to pause
Where not so much as Honest Dog
Approach encourages —

It seems a Curious Town —
Some Houses very old,
Some — newly raised this Afternoon,
Were I compelled to build

It should not be among
Inhabitants so still
But where the Birds assemble
And Boys were possible

Before Myself was born
'Twas settled, so they say,
A Territory for the Ghosts —
And Squirrels, formerly.

Until a Pioneer, as
Settlers often do
Liking the quiet of the Place
Attracted more unto —

And from a Settlement
A Capitol has grown
Distinguished for the gravity
Of every Citizen —

The Owner of this House
A Stranger He must be —
Eternity's Acquaintances
Are mostly so — to me —

What Inn is this

What Inn is this
Where for the night
Peculiar Traveller comes?
Who is the Landlord?
Where the maids?
Behold, what curious rooms!
No ruddy fires on the hearth —
No brimming Tankards flow.
Necromancer! Landlord!
Who are these below?

Behind Me — dips Eternity —

Behind Me — dips Eternity —
Before Me — Immortality —
Myself — the Term between —
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin —

'Tis Kingdoms — afterward — they say —
In perfect — pauseless Monarchy —
Whose Prince — is Son of none —
Himself — His Dateless Dynasty —
Himself — Himself diversify —
In Duplicate divine —

'Tis Miracle before Me — then —
'Tis Miracle behind — between —
A Crescent in the Sea —
With Midnight to the North of Her —
And Midnight to the South of Her —
And Maelstrom — in the Sky —

The Merchant of the Picturesque

The Merchant of the Picturesque
A Counter has and sales
But is within or negative
Precisely as the calls —
To Children he is small in price
And large in courtesy —
It suits him better than a check
Their artless currency —
Of Counterfeits he is so shy
Do one advance so near
As to behold his ample flight —

A Shade opon the mind there passes

A Shade opon the mind there passes
As when on Noon
A Cloud the mighty Sun encloses
Remembering

That some there be too numb to notice
Oh God
Why give if Thou must take away
The Loved?

The Night was wide, and furnished scant

The Night was wide, and furnished scant
With but a single Star —
That often as a Cloud it met —
Blew out itself — for fear —

The Wind pursued the little Bush —
And drove away the Leaves
November left — then clambered up
And fretted in the Eaves —

No Squirrel went abroad —
A Dog's belated feet
Like intermittent Plush, be heard
Adown the empty street —

To feel if Blinds be fast —
And closer to the fire —
Her Rocking Chair to draw —
And shiver for the Poor —

The Housewife's gentle Task —
How pleasanter — said she
Unto the Sofa opposite —
The Sleet — than May, no Thee —

Forever at His side to walk —

Forever at His side to walk —
The smaller of the two!
Brain of His Brain
Blood of His Blood
Two lives — One Being — now —

Forever of His fate to taste —
If grief — the largest part —
If joy — to put my piece away
For that beloved Heart —

All life — to know each other
Whom we can never learn —
And bye and bye — a Change —
Called Heaven —
Rapt neighborhoods of men —
Just finding out — what puzzled us —
Without the lexicon!

That short — potential stir

That short — potential stir
That each can make but once —
That Bustle so illustrious
'Tis almost Consequence —

Is the eclat of Death —
Oh — thou unknown Renown
That not a Beggar would accept
Had he the power to spurn —

It is dead — Find it —

It is dead — Find it —
Out of sound — Out of sight —
"Happy"? Which is wiser —
You, or the Wind?
"Conscious"? Wont you ask that —
Of the low Ground?

"Homesick"? Many met it —
Even through them — This cannot testify —
Themself — as dumb —

I've dropped my Brain — My Soul is numb —

I've dropped my Brain — My Soul is numb —
The Veins that used to run
Stop palsied — 'tis Paralysis
Done perfecter in stone —

Vitality is Carved and cool —
My nerve in marble lies —
A Breathing Woman
Yesterday — endowed with Paradise.

Not dumb — I had a sort that moved —
A Sense that smote and stirred —
Instincts for Dance — a caper part —
An Aptitude for Bird —

Who wrought Carrara in me
And chiselled all my tune
Were it a witchcraft — were it Death —
I've still a chance to strain

To Being, somewhere — Motion — Breath —
Though Centuries beyond,
And every limit a Decade —
I'll shiver, satisfied.

You've seen Balloons set — Hav'nt You?

You've seen Balloons set — Hav'nt You?
So stately they ascend —
It is as Swans — discarded You,
For Duties Diamond —

Their Liquid Feet go softly out
Opon a Sea of Blonde —
They spurn the Air, as 'twere too mean
For Creatures so renowned —

Their Ribbons just beyond the eye —
They struggle — some — for Breath —
And yet the Crowd applaud, below —
They would not encore — Death —

The Gilded Creature strains — and spins —
Trips frantic in a Tree —
Tears open her imperial Veins —
And tumbles in the Sea —

The Crowd — retire with an Oath —
The Dust in Streets — go down —
And Clerks in Counting Rooms
Observe — "'Twas only a Balloon" —

Escape is such a thankful Word

Escape is such a thankful Word
I often in the Night
Consider it unto myself
No spectacle in sight

Escape — it is the Basket
In which the Heart is caught
When down some awful Battlement
The rest of Life is dropt —

'Tis not to sight the savior —
It is to be the saved —
And that is why I lay my Head
Opon this trusty word —

Somewhat, to hope for

Somewhat, to hope for,
Be it ne'er so far
Is Capital against Despair —

Somewhat, to suffer,
Be it ne'er so keen —
If terminable, may be borne —

A precious — mouldering pleasure — 'tis —

A precious — mouldering pleasure — 'tis —
To meet an Antique Book —
In just the Dress his Century wore —
A privilege — I think —

His venerable Hand to take —
And warming in our own —
A passage back — or two — to make —
To Times when he — was young —

His quaint opinions — to inspect —
His thought to ascertain
On Themes concern our mutual mind —
The Literature of Man —

What interested Scholars — most —
What Competitions ran —
When Plato — was a Certainty —
And Sophocles — a Man —

When Sappho — was a living Girl —
And Beatrice wore
The Gown that Dante — deified —
Facts Centuries before

He traverses — familiar —
As One should come to Town —
And tell you all your Dreams — were true —
He lived — where Dreams were born —

His presence is enchantment —
You beg him not to go —
Old Volumes shake their Vellum Heads
And tantalize — just so —

Let me not mar that perfect Dream

Let me not mar that perfect Dream
By an Auroral stain
But so adjust my daily Night
That it will come again.

Not when we know, the Power accosts —
The Garment of Surprise
Was all our timid Mother wore
At Home — in Paradise.

A Dying Tiger — moaned for Drink —

A Dying Tiger — moaned for Drink —
I hunted all the Sand —
I caught the Dripping of a Rock
And bore it in my Hand —

His mighty Balls — in death were thick —
But searching — I could see
A Vision on the Retina
Of Water — and of me —

'Twas not my blame — who sped too slow —
'Twas not his blame — who died
While I was reaching him —
But 'twas — the fact that He was dead —