Snow flakes. I counted till they danced so Their slippers leaped the town - And then I took a pencil To note the rebels down - And then they grew so jolly I did resign the prig - And ten of my once stately toes Are marshalled for a jig! ___ Before the ice is in the pools - Before the skaters go, Or any cheek at nightfall Is tarnished by the snow - Before the fields have finished - Before the Christmas tree, Wonder upon wonder Will arrive to me! What we touch the hems of On a summer's day - What is only walking Just a bridge away - That which sings so - speaks so - When there's no one here - Will the frock I wept in Answer me to wear? ___ By such and such an offering To Mr So and So - The web of live woven - So martyrs albums show! ___ It did not surprise me - So I said - or thought - She will stir her pinions And the nest forgot, Traverse broader forests - Build in gayer boughs, Breathe in Ear more modern God's old fashioned vows - This was but a Birdling - What and if it be One within my bosom Had departed me? This was but a story - What and if indeed There were just such coffin In the heart - instead? ___ When I count the seeds That are sown beneath - To bloom so, bye and bye - When I con the people Lain so low - To be received as high - When I believe the garden Mortal shall not see - Pick by faith it's blossom And avoid it's Bee, I can spare this summer - unreluctantly. ___ Bless God, he went as soldiers, His musket on his breast - Grant God, he charge the bravest Of all the martial blest! Please God, might I behold him In epauletted white - I should not fear the foe then - I should not fear the fight! ___ If I should cease to bring a Rose Upon a festal day, Twill be because beyond the Rose I have been called away - If I should cease to take the names My buds commemorate - Twill be because Death's finger Clasps my murmuring lip! ___ One Sister have I in our house - And one, a hedge away. There's only one recorded, But both belong to me. One came the road that I came - And wore my last year's gown - The other, as a bird her nest, Builded our hearts among. She did not sing as we did - It was a different tune - Herself to her a music As Bumble bee of June. Today is far from Childhood - But up and down the hills I held her hand the tighter - Which shortened all the miles - And still her hum The years among, Deceives the Butterfly; Still in her Eye The Violets lie Mouldered this many May. I spilt the dew - But took the morn; I chose this single star From out the wide night's numbers - Sue - forevermore! ___ "Lethe" in my flower, Of which they who drink, In the fadeless Orchards Hear the bobolink! Merely flake or petal As the Eye beholds Jupiter! my father! I perceive the rose! ___ To venerate the simple days Which lead the seasons by - Needs but to remember That from you or I, They may take the trifle Termed mortality! To invest existence with a stately air - Needs but to remember That the Acorn there Is the egg of forest For the upper Air! ___ I've got an arrow here. Loving the hand that sent it I the dart revere. Fell, they will say, in "skirmish"! Vanquished, my soul will know By but a simple arrow Sped by an archer's bow. ___ I robbed the Woods - The trusting Woods - The unsuspecting Trees Brought out their Burs and mosses My fantasy to please - I scanned their trinkets curious - I grasped - I bore away - What will the solemn Hemlock - What will the Oak tree say? ___ A Day! Help! Help! Another Day! Your prayers - Oh Passer by! From such a common ball as this Might date a Victory! From marshallings as simple The flags of nations swang. Steady - my soul: What issues Upon thine arrow hang! ___ Could live - did live - Could die - did die - Could smile upon the whole Through faith in one he met not - To introduce his soul - Could go from scene familiar To an untraversed spot - Could contemplate the journey With unpuzzled heart - Such trust had one among us - Among us not today - We who saw the launching Never sailed the Bay! ___ If she had been the Mistletoe And I had been the Rose - How gay upon your table My velvet life to Close - Since I am of the Druid - And she is of the dew - I'll deck Tradition's buttonhole And send the Rose to you. ___ My Wheel is in the dark! I cannot see a spoke Yet know it's dripping feet Go round and round. My foot is on the Tide! An unfrequented road - Yet have all roads A clearing at the end - Some have resigned the Loom - Some in the busy tomb Find quaint employ - Some with new - stately feet - Pass royal thro' the gate - Flinging the problem back At you and I! ___ There's something quieter than sleep Within this inner room! It wears a sprig upon it's breast - And will not tell it's name. Some touch it, and some kiss it - Some chafe it's idle hand - It has a simple gravity I do not understand! I would not weep if I were they - How rude in one to sob! Might scare the quiet fairy Back to her native wood! While simple-hearted neighbors Chat of the "Early dead" - We - prone to periphrasis, Remark that Birds have fled! ___ I keep my pledge. I was not called - Death did not notice me. I bring my Rose - I plight again - By every sainted Bee - By Daisy called from hillside - By Bobolink from lane - Blossom and I - Her oath, and mine - Will surely come again - ___ Heart! We will forget him! You and I - tonight! You may forget the warmth he gave - I will forget the light! When you have done, pray tell me That I may straight begin! Haste! lest while you're lagging I remember him! ___ Once more, my now bewildered Dove Bestirs her puzzled wings. Once more, her mistress, on the deep Her troubled question flings - Thrice to the floating casement The Patriarch's bird returned - Courage! My brave Columba! There may yet be Land! ___ Baffled for just a day or two - Embarrassed - not afraid - Encounter in my garden An unexpected Maid! She beckons, and the Woods start - She nods, and all begin - Surely, such a country I was never in! ___