I taste a liquor never brewed - From Tankards scooped in Pearl - Not all the Frankfort Berries Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of air - am I - And Debauchee of Dew - Reeling - thro' endless summer days - From inns of Molten Blue - When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee Out of the Foxglove's door - When Butterflies - renounce their "drams" - I shall but drink the more! Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats - And Saints - to windows run - To see the little Tippler From Manzanilla come! ___ Pine Bough - A feather from the Whippowil That everlasting sings - Whose Galleries are Sunrise - Whose Stanzas, are the Springs - Whose Emerald Nest - the Ages spin - With mellow - murmuring Thread - Whose Beryl Egg, what School Boys hunt - In "Recess", Overhead! ___ I lost a World - the other day! Has Anybody found? You'll know it by the Row of Stars Around it's forehead bound. A Rich man - might not notice it - Yet - to my frugal Eye, Of more Esteem than Ducats - Oh find it - Sir - for me! ___ If I should'nt be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb - If I could'nt thank you, Being fast asleep, You will know I'm trying With my Granite lip! ___ I've heard an Organ talk, sometimes In a Cathedral Aisle, And understood no word it said - Yet held my breath, the while - And risen up - and gone away, A more Bernardine Girl - Yet - know not what was done to me In that old Chapel Aisle. ___ A transport one cannot contain May yet, a transport be - Though God forbid it lift the lid, Unto it's Extasy! A Diagram - of Rapture! A sixpence at a show - With Holy Ghosts in Cages! The Universe would go! ___ "Faith" is a fine invention For Gentlemen who see - But Microscopes are prudent In an Emergency. ___ I got so I could hear his name - Without - Tremendous gain - That Stop-sensation - on my Soul - And Thunder - in the Room - I got so I could walk across That Angle in the floor, Where he turned so, and I turned - how - And all our Sinew tore - I got so I could stir the Box - In which his letters grew Without that forcing, in my breath - As Staples - driven through - Could dimly recollect a Grace - I think, they called it "God" - Renowned to ease Extremity - When Formula, had failed - And shape my Hands - Petition's way, Tho' ignorant of a word That Ordination - utters - My Business, with the Cloud, If any Power behind it, be, Not subject to Despair - It care, in some remoter way, For so minute affair As Misery - Itself, too vast, for interrupting - more - ___ A single Screw of Flesh Is all that pins the Soul That stands for Deity, to Mine, Upon my side the Veil - Once witnessed of the Gauze - It's 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 it's Keepsake - go ___ A Weight with Needles on the pounds - To push, and pierce, besides - That if the Flesh resist the Heft - The puncture - Coolly tries - That not a pore be overlooked Of all this Compound Frame - As manifold for Anguish - As Species - be - for name - ___ Savior! I've no one else to tell - And so I trouble thee. I am the one forgot thee so - Dost thou remember me? Nor, for myself, I came so far - That were the little load - I brought thee the imperial Heart I had not strength to hold - The Heart I carried in my own - Till mine too heavy grew - Yet - strangest - heavier since it went - Is it too large for you? ___ Where Ships of Purple - gently toss - On Seas of Daffodil - Fantastic Sailors - mingle - And then - the Wharf is still! ___ This - is the land - the Sunset washes - These - are the Banks of the Yellow Sea - Where it rose - or whither it rushes - These - are the Western Mystery! Night after Night Her purple traffic Strews the landing - with Opal Bales - Merchantmen - poise upon Horizons - Dip - and vanish like Orioles! ___ The Doomed - regard the Sunrise With different Delight - Because - when next it burns abroad They doubt to witness it - The Man - to die - tomorrow - Harks for the Meadow Bird - Because it's Music stirs the Axe That clamors for his head - Joyful - to whom the Sunrise Precedes Enamored - Day - Joyful - for whom the Meadow Bird Has ought but Elegy! ___ Jesus! thy Crucifix Enable thee to guess The smaller size! Jesus! thy second face Mind thee in Paradise Of our's! ___ Did we disobey Him? Just one time! Charged us to forget Him - But we could'nt learn! Were Himself - such a Dunce - What would we - do? Love the dull lad - best - Oh, wouldn't you? ___ Unto like Story - Trouble has enticed me - How Kinsmen fell - Brothers and Sister - who preferred the Glory - And their young will Bent to the Scaffold, or in Dungeons - chanted - Till God's full time - When they let go the ignominy - smiling - And Shame went still - Unto guessed Crests, my moaning fancy, leads me, Worn fair By Heads rejected - in the lower country - Of honors there - Such spirit makes her perpetual mention, That I - grown bold - Step martial - at my Crucifixion - As Trumpets - rolled - Feet, small as mine - have marched in Revolution Firm to the Drum - Hands - not so stout - hoisted them - in witness - When Speech went numb - Let me not shame their sublime deportments - Drilled bright - Beckoning - Etruscan invitation - Toward Light - ___ One Year ago - jots what? God - spell the word! I - cant - Was't Grace? Not that - Was't Glory? That - will do - Spell slower - Glory - Such Anniversary shall be - Sometimes - not often - in Eternity - When farther Parted, than the Common Wo - Look - feed upon each other's faces - so - In doubtful meal, if it be possible Their Banquet's real - I tasted - careless - then - I did not know the Wine Came once a World - Did you? Oh, had you told me so - This Thirst would blister - easier - now - You said it hurt you - most - Mine - was an Acorn's Breast - And could not know how fondness grew In Shaggier Vest - Perhaps - I could'nt - But, had you looked in - A Giant - eye to eye with you, had been - No Acorn - then - So - Twelve months ago - We breathed - Then dropped the Air - Which bore it best? Was this - the patientest - Because it was a Child, you know - And could not value - Air? If to be "Elder" - mean most pain - I'm old enough, today, I'm certain - then - As old as thee - how soon? One - Birthday more - or Ten? Let me - choose! Ah, Sir, None! ___ It's like the Light - A fashionless Delight - It's like the Bee - A dateless - Melody - It's like the Woods - Private - Like the Breeze - Phraseless - yet it stirs The proudest Trees - It's like the Morning - Best - when it's done - And the Everlasting Clocks - Chime - Noon! ___ Alone, I cannot be - The Hosts - do visit me - Recordless Company - Who baffle Key - They have no Robes, nor Names - No Almanacs - nor Climes - But general Homes Like Gnomes - Their Coming, may be known By Couriers within - Their going - is not - For they're never gone - ___ He put the Belt around my life - I heard the Buckle snap - And turned away, imperial, My Lifetime folding up - Deliberate, as a Duke would do A Kingdom's Title Deed - Henceforth - a Dedicated sort - A Member of the Cloud - Yet not too far to come at call - And do the little Toils That make the Circuit of the Rest - And deal occasional smiles To lives that stoop to notice mine - And kindly ask it in - Whose invitation, know you not For Whom I must decline? ___ The only Ghost I ever saw Was dressed in Mechlin - so - He had no sandal on his foot - And stepped like flakes of snow - His Gait - was soundless, like a Bird - But rapid - like the Roe - His fashions, quaint, Mosaic - Or haply, Mistletoe - His conversation - seldom - His laughter, like the Breeze That dies away in Dimples Among the pensive Trees - Our interview - was transient - Of me, himself was shy - And God forbid I look behind - Since that appalling Day! ___ Doubt Me! My Dim Companion! Why, God, would be content With but a fraction of the Life - Poured thee, without a stint - The whole of me - forever - What more the Woman can, Say quick, that I may dower thee With last Delight I own! It cannot be my Spirit - For that was thine, before - I ceded all of Dust I knew - What Opulence the more Had I - a freckled Maiden, Whose farthest of Degree, Was - that she might - Some distant Heaven, Dwell timidly, with thee! Sift her, from Brow to Barefoot! Strain till your last Surmise - Drop, like a Tapestry, away, Before the Fire's Eyes - Winnow her finest fondness - But hallow just the snow Intact, in Everlasting flake - Oh, Caviler, for you! ___ Many a phrase has the English language - I have heard but one - Low as the laughter of the Cricket, Loud, as the Thunder's Tongue - Murmuring, like old Caspian Choirs, When the Tide's a'lull - Saying itself in new inflection - Like a Whippowil - Breaking in bright Orthography On my simple sleep - Thundering it's Prospective - Till I stir, and weep - Not for the Sorrow, done me - But the push of Joy - Say it again, Saxon! Hush - Only to me! ___ Of all the Sounds despatched abroad, There's not a Charge to me Like that old measure in the Boughs - That phraseless Melody - The Wind does - working like a Hand, Whose fingers Comb the Sky - Then quiver down - with tufts of Tune - Permitted Gods, and me - Inheritance, it is, to us - Beyond the Art to earn - Beyond the trait to take away By Robber, since the Gain Is gotten not of fingers - And inner than the Bone - Hid golden, for the whole of Days, And even in the Urn, I cannot vouch the merry Dust Do not arise and play In some odd fashion of it's own, Some quainter Holiday, When Winds go round and round in Bands - And thrum upon the door, And Birds take places, overhead, To bear them Orchestra. I crave Him grace of Summer Boughs, If such an Outcast be - Who never heard that fleshless Chant - Rise - solemn - on the Tree, As if some Caravan of Sound Off Deserts, in the Sky, Had parted Rank - Then knit, and swept - In Seamless Company - ___ 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 - ___ A happy lip - breaks sudden - It does'nt state you how It contemplated - smiling - Just consummated - now - But this one, wears it's merriment So patient - like a pain - Fresh gilded - to elude the eyes Unqualified, to scan - ___