Had I presumed to hope - The loss had been to Me A Value - for the Greatness'Sake - As Giants - gone away - Had I presumed to gain A Favor so remote - The failure but confirm the Grace In further Infinite -
'Tis failure - not of Hope - But resolute Despair - Advancing on Celestial Lists - With faint - Terrestrial power -
'Tis Honor - though I die - For That no Man obtain Till He be justified by Death - This - is the Second Gain.
Endow the Living - with the Tears - You squander on the Dead, And They were Men and Women - now, Around Your Fireside - Instead of Passive Creatures, Denied the Cherishing Till They - the Cherishing deny - With Death's Etherial Scorn. Donate ai Vivi - le Lacrime - Che sprecate per i Morti, Ed Essi sarebbero Uomini e Donne - allora, Intorno al Vostro Focolare - Invece di Passive Creature, Negate alla Tenerezza Fino a che Loro - la Tenerezza neghino - Con l'Etereo Scherno della Morte.
Started Early - Took my Dog - And visited the Sea - The Mermaids in the Basement Came out to look at me - And Frigates - in the Upper Floor Extended Hempen Hands - Presuming Me to be a Mouse - Aground - upon the Sands -
But no Man moved Me - till the Tide Went past my simple Shoe - And past my Apron - and my Belt - And past my Boddice - too -
And made as He would eat me up - As wholly as a Dew Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve - And then - I started - too -
And He - He followed - close behind - I felt his Silver Heel Upon my Ankle - Then My Shoes Would overflow with Pearl -
Until We met the Solid Town - No One He seemed to know - And bowing - with a Mighty look - At me - The Sea withdrew.
'Twas warm - at first - like Us - Until there crept upon A Chill - like frost upon a Glass - Till all the scene - be gone. The Forehead copied Stone - The Fingers grew too cold To ache - and like a Skater's Brook - The busy eyes - congealed -
It straightened - that was all - It crowded Cold to Cold - It multiplied indifference - As Pride were all it could -
And even when with Cords - 'Twas lowered, like a Freight - It made no Signal, nor demurred, But dropped like Adamant.
Her sweet Weight on my Heart a Night Had scarcely deigned to lie - When, stirring, for Belief's delight, My Bride had slipped away - If 'twas a Dream - made solid - just The Heaven to confirm - Or if Myself were dreamed of Her - The power to presume -
With Him remain - who unto Me - Gave - even as to All - A Fiction superseding Faith - By so much - as 'twas real.
He parts Himself - like Leaves - And then - He closes up - And then He leans with all His Might Upon a Buttercup - And then He runs against And oversets a Rose - And then does Nothing - Then away upon a Jib - He goes -
And dangles like a Mote Suspended in the Noon - Uncertain - to return Below - Or settle in the Moon -
What come of Him - at Night - The privilege to say Be limited by Ignorance - What come of Him - That Day -
The Frost - possess the World - In Cabinets - be shown - A Sepulchre of quaintest Floss - An Abbey - a Cocoon.
No Crowd that has occurred Exhibit - I suppose That General Attendance That Resurrection - does - Circumference be full - The long restricted Grave Assert her Vital Privilege - The Dust - connect - and live -
On Atoms - features place - All Multitudes that were Efface in the Comparison - As Suns - dissolve a star -
Solemnity - prevail - It's Individual Doom Possess each - separate Consciousness - August - Resistless - dumb -
What Duplicate - exist - What scenery can be - Of the Significance of This - To Universe - and Me?
Her smile was shaped like other smiles - The Dimples ran along - And still it hurt you, as some Bird Did hoist herself, to sing, Then recollect a Ball, she got - And hold upon the Twig, Convulsive, while the Music crashed - Like Beads - among the Bog.
Like Flowers, that heard the news of Dews, But never deemed the dripping prize Awaited their - low Brows - Or Bees - that thought the Summer's name Some rumor of Delirium, No Summer - could - for Them -
Or Arctic Creatures, dimly stirred - By Tropic Hint - some Travelled Bird Imported to the Wood -
Or Wind's bright signal to the Ear - Making that homely, and severe, Contented, known, before -
The Heaven - unexpected come, To Lives that thought the Worshipping A too presumptuous Psalm.