Life and Existence

After a hundred years

After a hundred years
Nobody knows the place,--
Agony, that enacted there,
Motionless as peace.


Weeds triumphant ranged,
Strangers strolled and spelled
At the lone orthography
Of the elder dead.


Winds of summer fields
Recollect the way,--
Instinct picking up the key
Dropped by memory.

Adrift! A little boat adrift!

30

Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!
Will no one guide a little boat
Unto the nearest town?

So Sailors say-on yesterday-
Just as the dusk was brown
One little boat gave up its strife
And gurgled down and down.

So angels say-on yesterday-
Just as the dawn was red
One little boat-o'erspent with gales-
Retrimmed its masts-redecked its sails-
And shot-exultant on!

A transport one cannot contain

184

A transport one cannot contain
May yet a transport be-
Though God forbid it lift the lid-
Unto its Ecstasy!


A Diagram-of Rapture!
A sixpence at a Show-
With Holy Ghosts in Cages!
The Universe would go!

A Tongue—to tell Him I am true!

400

A Tongue—to tell Him I am true!
Its fee—to be of Gold—
Had Nature—in Her monstrous House
A single Ragged Child—


To earn a Mine—would run
That Interdicted Way,
And tell Him—Charge thee speak it plain—
That so far—Truth is True?


And answer What I do—
Beginning with the Day
That Night—begun—
Nay—Midnight—'twas—
Since Midnight—happened—say—


If once more—Pardon—Boy—
The Magnitude thou may
Enlarge my Message—If too vast
Another Lad—help thee—


Thy Pay—in Diamonds—be—
And His—in solid Gold—
Say Rubies—if He hesitate—
My Message—must be told—


Say—last I said—was This—
That when the Hills—come down—
And hold no higher than the Plain—
My Bond—have just begun—


And when the Heavens—disband—
And Deity conclude—
Then—look for me. Be sure you say—
Least Figure—on the Road—

A throe upon the features

71

A throe upon the features-
A hurry in the breath-
An ecstasy of parting
Denominated "Death"-

An anguish at the mention
Which when to patience grown,
I've known permission given
To rejoin its own.

A still—Volcano—Life

601

A still—Volcano—Life—
That flickered in the night—
When it was dark enough to do
Without erasing sight—


A quiet—Earthquake Style—
Too subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples—
The North cannot detect


The Solemn—Torrid—Symbol—
The lips that never lie—
Whose hissing Corals part—and shut—
And Cities—ooze away—

A still—Volcano—Life

601

A still—Volcano—Life—
That flickered in the night—
When it was dark enough to do
Without erasing sight—


A quiet—Earthquake Style—
Too subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples—
The North cannot detect


The Solemn—Torrid—Symbol—
The lips that never lie—
Whose hissing Corals part—and shut—
And Cities—ooze away—

A Solemn thing within the Soul

483

A Solemn thing within the Soul
To feel itself get ripe-
And golden hang-while farther up-
The Maker's Ladders stop-
And in the Orchard far below-
You hear a Being-drop-

A Wonderful-to feel the Sun
Still toiling at the Cheek
You thought was finished-
Cool of eye, and critical of Work-
He shifts the stem-a little-
To give your Core-a look-

But solemnest-to know
Your chance in Harvest moves
A little nearer-Every Sun
The Single-to some lives.

A Solemn thing within the Soul

483

A Solemn thing within the Soul
To feel itself get ripe-
And golden hang-while farther up-
The Maker's Ladders stop-
And in the Orchard far below-
You hear a Being-drop-

A Wonderful-to feel the Sun
Still toiling at the Cheek
You thought was finished-
Cool of eye, and critical of Work-
He shifts the stem-a little-
To give your Core-a look-

But solemnest-to know
Your chance in Harvest moves
A little nearer-Every Sun
The Single-to some lives.

A Shade upon the mind there passes

882

A Shade upon 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?

A single Screw of Flesh

263

Is all that pins the Soul
That stands for Deity, to Mine,
Upon my side the Veil-


Once witnessed of the Gauze-
Its name is put away
As far from mine, as if no plight
Had printed yesterday,


In tender-solemn Alphabet,
My eyes just turned to see,
When it was smuggled by my sight
Into Eternity-


More Hands-to hold-These are but Two-
One more new-mailed Nerve
Just granted, for the Peril's sake-
Some striding-Giant-Love-


So greater than the Gods can show,
They slink before the Clay,
That not for all their Heaven can boast
Will let its Keepsake-go

A single Screw of Flesh

263

Is all that pins the Soul
That stands for Deity, to Mine,
Upon my side the Veil-


Once witnessed of the Gauze-
Its name is put away
As far from mine, as if no plight
Had printed yesterday,


In tender-solemn Alphabet,
My eyes just turned to see,
When it was smuggled by my sight
Into Eternity-


More Hands-to hold-These are but Two-
One more new-mailed Nerve
Just granted, for the Peril's sake-
Some striding-Giant-Love-


So greater than the Gods can show,
They slink before the Clay,
That not for all their Heaven can boast
Will let its Keepsake-go

A precious—mouldering pleasure

371

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 Volume shake their Vellum Heads
And tantalize—just so—

A Planted Life-diversified

806

A Planted Life-diversified
With Gold and Silver Pain
To prove the presence of the Ore
In Particles-'tis when

A Value struggle-it exist-
A Power-will proclaim
Although Annihilation pile
Whole Chaoses on Him-

A loss of something ever felt I

959

A loss of something ever felt I-
The first that I could recollect
Bereft I was-of what I knew not
Too young that any should suspect

A Mourner walked among the children
I notwithstanding went about
As one bemoaning a Dominion
Itself the only Prince cast out-

Elder, Today, a session wiser
And fainter, too, as Wiseness is-
I find myself still softly searching
For my Delinguent Palaces-

And a Suspicion, like a Finger
Touches my Forehead now and then
That I am looking oppositely
For the site of the Kingdom of Heaven-

A loss of something ever felt I

959

A loss of something ever felt I-
The first that I could recollect
Bereft I was-of what I knew not
Too young that any should suspect

A Mourner walked among the children
I notwithstanding went about
As one bemoaning a Dominion
Itself the only Prince cast out-

Elder, Today, a session wiser
And fainter, too, as Wiseness is-
I find myself still softly searching
For my Delinguent Palaces-

And a Suspicion, like a Finger
Touches my Forehead now and then
That I am looking oppositely
For the site of the Kingdom of Heaven-

A happy lip-breaks sudden

353

A happy lip-breaks sudden-
It doesn't state you how
It contemplated-smiling-
Just consummated-now-
But this one, wears its merriment
So patient-like a pain-
Fresh gilded-to elude the eyes
Unqualified, to scan-

A first Mute Coming

702

A first Mute Coming-
In the Stranger's House-
A first fair Going-
When the Bells rejoice-

A first Exchange-of
What hath mingled-been-
For Lot-exhibited to
Faith-alone-

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some

816

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
Who till they died, did not alive become-
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, Vitality begun.

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some

816

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
Who till they died, did not alive become-
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, Vitality begun.

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky

895

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
Superior Glory be
But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries
Are forever lost to me

Had I but further scanned
Had I secured the Glow
In an Hermetic Memory
It had availed me now.

Never to pass the Angel
With a glance and a Bow
Till I am firm in Heaven
Is my intention now.

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky

895

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
Superior Glory be
But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries
Are forever lost to me

Had I but further scanned
Had I secured the Glow
In an Hermetic Memory
It had availed me now.

Never to pass the Angel
With a glance and a Bow
Till I am firm in Heaven
Is my intention now.

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky

895

A Cloud withdrew from the Sky
Superior Glory be
But that Cloud and its Auxiliaries
Are forever lost to me

Had I but further scanned
Had I secured the Glow
In an Hermetic Memory
It had availed me now.

Never to pass the Angel
With a glance and a Bow
Till I am firm in Heaven
Is my intention now.

A darting fear-a pomp-a tear

87

A darting fear-a pomp-a tear-
A waking on a morn
To find that what one waked for,
Inhales the different dawn.