We - Bee and I - live by the quaffing - 'Tis'nt all Hock - with us - Life has it's Ale - But it's many a lay of the Dim Burgundy - We chant - for cheer - when the Wines - fail - Do we "get drunk"? Ask the jolly Clovers! Do we "beat" our "Wife"? I - never wed - Bee - pledges his - in minute flagons - Dainty - as the tress - on her deft Head - While runs the Rhine - He and I - revel - First - at the Vat - and latest at the Vine - Noon - our last Cup - "Found dead" - "of Nectar" - By a humming Coroner - In a By-Thyme! ___ God permits industrious Angels - Afternoons - to play - I met one - forgot my schoolmates - All - for Him - straightway - God calls home - the Angels - promptly - At the Setting Sun - I missed mine - how dreary - Marbles - After playing Crown! ___ The Sun - just touched the Morning - The Morning - Happy thing - Supposed that He had come to dwell - And Life would all be Spring! She felt herself supremer - A Raised - Ethereal Thing! Henceforth - for Her - what Holiday! Meanwhile - Her wheeling King - Trailed - slow - along the Orchards - His haughty - spangled Hems - Leaving a new nescessity! The want of Diadems! The Morning - fluttered - staggered - Felt feebly - for Her Crown - Her unannointed forehead - Henceforth - Her only One! ___ The Lamp burns sure - within - Tho' Serfs - supply the Oil - It matters not the busy Wick - At her phosphoric toil! The Slave - forgets - to fill - The Lamp - burns golden - on - Unconscious that the oil is out - As that the Slave - is gone. ___ Tho' my destiny be Fustian - Her's be damask fine - Tho' she wear a silver apron - I, a less divine - Still, my little Gypsey being I would far prefer - Still, my little sunburnt bosom To her Rosier - For, when Frosts, their punctual fingers On her forehead lay, You and I, and Dr Holland, Bloom Eternally! Roses of a steadfast summer In a steadfast land - Where no Autumn lifts her pencil - And no Reapers stand! ___ Tho' I get home how late - how late - So I get home - 'twill compensate - Better will be the Extasy That they have done expecting me - When night - descending - dumb - and dark - They hear my unexpected knock - Transporting must the moment be - Brewed from decades of Agony! To think just how the fire will burn - Just how long-cheated eyes will turn - To wonder what myself will say, And what itself, will say to me - Beguiles the Centuries of way! ___ The Rose did caper on her cheek - Her Bodice rose and fell - Her pretty speech - like drunken men - Did stagger pitiful - Her fingers fumbled at her work - Her needle would not go - What ailed so smart a little Maid - It puzzled me to know - Till opposite - I spied a cheek That bore another Rose - Just opposite - Another speech That like the Drunkard goes - A Vest that like her Boddice, danced - To the immortal tune - Till those two troubled - little Clocks Ticked softly into one. ___ With thee, in the Desert - With thee in the thirst - With thee in the Tamarind wood - Leopard breathes - at last! ___ "Faith" is a fine invention For Gentlemen who see - But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency. ___ The thought beneath so slight a film - Is more distinctly seen - As laces just reveal the surge - Or Mists - the Appenine - ___ I'll tell you how the Sun rose - A Ribbon at a time - The Steeples swam in Amethyst - The news, like Squirrels, ran - The Hills untied their Bonnets - The Bobolinks - begun - Then I said softly to myself - "That must have been the Sun"! But how he set - I know not - There seemed a purple stile That little Yellow boys and girls Were climbing all the while - Till when they reached the other side - A Dominie in Gray - Put gently up the evening Bars - And led the flock away - ___ A little Bread - a crust - a crumb - A little trust - a demijohn - Can keep the soul alive - Not portly, mind! but breathing - warm - Conscious - as old Napoleon, The night before the crown! A modest lot - A fame petite - A brief Campaign of sting and sweet Is plenty! Is enough! A Sailor's business is the shore! A Soldier's - balls! Who asketh more, Must seek the neighboring life! ___ Just lost, when I was saved! Just felt the world go by! Just girt me for the onset with Eternity, When breath blew back, And on the other side I heard recede the disappointed tide! Therefore, as One returned, I feel, Odd secrets of the line to tell! Some Sailor, skirting foreign shores - Some pale Reporter, from the awful doors Before the Seal! Next time, to stay! Next time, the things to see By ear unheard, Unscrutinized by eye - Next time, to tarry, While the Ages steal - Slow tramp the Centuries, And the Cycles wheel! ___ Come slowly - Eden! Lips unused to Thee - Bashful - sip thy Jessamines - As the fainting Bee - Reaching late his flower, Round her chamber hums - Counts his nectars - Enters - and is lost in Balms. ___ Least Rivers - docile to some sea. My Caspian - thee. ___ One life of so much consequence! Yet I - for it - would pay - My soul's entire income - In ceaseless - salary - One Pearl - to me - so signal - That I would instant dive - Although - I knew - to take it - Would cost me - just a life! The Sea is full - I know it! That - does not blur my Gem! It burns - distinct from all the row - Intact - in Diadem! The life is thick - I know it! Yet - not so dense a crowd - But Monarchs - are perceptible - Far down the dustiest Road! ___ You're right - "the way is narrow" - And "difficult the Gate" - And "few there be" - Correct again - That "enter in - thereat" - 'Tis Costly - So are purples! 'Tis just the price of Breath - With but the "Discount" of the Grave - Termed by the Brokers - "Death"! And after that - there's Heaven - The Good man's - "Dividend" - And Bad men - "go to Jail" - I guess - ___ Safe in their Alabaster Chambers - Untouched by Morning And untouched by Noon - Lie the meek members of the Resurrection - Rafter of Satin - and Roof of Stone! Grand go the Years - in the Crescent - above them - Worlds scoop their Arcs - And Firmaments - row - Diadems - drop - and Doges - surrender - Soundless as dots - on a Disc of Snow - ___ The Court is far away - No Umpire - have I - My Sovreign is offended - To gain his grace - I'd die! I'll seek his royal feet - I'll say - Remember - King - Thou shalt - thyself - one day - a Child - Implore a larger - thing - That Empire - is of Czars - As small - they say - as I - Grant me - that day - the royalty - To intercede - for Thee - ___ If He dissolve - then - there is nothing - more - Eclipse - at Midnight - It was dark - before - Sunset - at Easter - Blindness - on the Dawn - Faint Star of Bethlehem - Gone down! Would but some God - inform Him - Or it be too late! Say - that the pulse just lisps - The Chariots wait - Say - that a little life - for His - Is leaking - red - His little Spaniel - tell Him! Will He heed? ___ I think just how my shape will rise - When I shall be "forgiven" - Till Hair - and Eyes - and timid Head - Are out of sight - in Heaven - I think just how my lips will weigh - With shapeless - quivering - prayer - That you - so late - "consider" me - The "Sparrow" of your care - I mind me that of Anguish - sent - Some drifts were moved away - Before my simple bosom - broke - And why not this - if they? And so I con that thing - "forgiven" - Until - delirious - borne - By my long bright - and longer - trust - I drop my Heart - unshriven! ___ I've nothing else - to bring, You know - So I keep bringing These - Just as the Night keeps fetching Stars To our familiar eyes - Maybe, we should'nt mind them - Unless they did'nt come - Then - maybe, it would puzzle us To find our way Home - ___