Good Night! Which put the Candle out? A jealous Zephyr - not a doubt - Ah, friend, you little knew How long at that celestial wick The Angels - labored diligent - Extinguished - now - for you! It might - have been the Light House spark - Some Sailor - rowing in the Dark - Had importuned to see! It might - have been the waning lamp That lit the Drummer from the Camp To purer Reveille!
There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons - That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes - Heavenly Hurt, it gives us - We can find no scar, But internal difference, Where the Meanings, are -
None may teach it - Any - 'Tis the Seal Despair - An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air -
When it comes, the Landscape listens - Shadows - hold their breath - When it goes, 'tis like the Distance On the look of Death.
Delight is as the flight - Or in the Ratio of it, As the Schools would say - The Rainbow's way - A Skein Flung colored, after Rain, Would suit as bright, Except that flight Were Aliment - "If it would last" I asked the East, When that Bent Stripe Struck up my childish Firmament - And I, for glee, Took Rainbows, as the common way, And empty Skies The Eccentricity -
And so with Lives - And so with Butterflies - Seen magic - through the fright That they will cheat the sight - And Dower latitudes far on - Some sudden morn - Our portion - in the fashion - Done.
If I'm lost - now - That I was found - Shall still my transport be - That once - on me - those Jasper Gates Blazed open - suddenly - That in my awkward - gazing - face - The Angels - softly peered - And touched me with their fleeces, Almost as if they cared - I'm banished - now - you know it - How foreign that can be - You'll know - Sir - when the Savior's face Turns so - away from you.
To die - takes just a little while - They say it doesn't hurt - It's only fainter - by degrees - And then - it's out of sight - A darker Ribbon - for a Day - A Crape upon the Hat - And then the pretty sunshine comes - And helps us to forget -
The absent - mystic - creature - That but for love of us - Had gone to sleep - that soundest time - Without the weariness.
Hope is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm -
I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet, never, in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of Me.
You see I cannot see - your lifetime - I must guess - How many times it ache for me - today - Confess - How many times for my far sake The brave eyes film - But I guess guessing hurts - Mine - got so dim! Too vague - the face - My own - so patient - covers - Too far - the strength - My timidness enfolds - Haunting the Heart - Like her translated faces - Teasing the want - It - only - can suffice!
I can wade Grief - Whole Pools of it - I'm used to that - But the least push of Joy Breaks up my feet - And I tip - drunken - Let no Pebble - smile - 'Twas the New Liquor - That was all! Power is only Pain - Stranded, thro' Discipline, Till Weights - will hang - Give Balm - to Giants - And they'll wilt, like Men - Give Himmaleh - They'll Carry - Him!
Over the fence - Strawberries - grow - Over the fence - I could climb - if I tried, I know - Berries are nice! But - if I stained my Apron - God would certainly scold! Oh, dear, - I guess if He were a Boy - He'd - climb - if He could!
I shall keep singing! Birds will pass me On their way to Yellower Climes - Each - with a Robin's expectation - I - with my Redbreast - And my Rhymes - Late - when I take my place in summer - But - I shall bring a fuller tune - Vespers - are sweeter than Matins - Signor - Morning - only the seed of Noon.