Before I got my eye put out - I liked as well to see As other creatures, that have eyes - And know no other way - But were it told to me, Today, That I might have the Sky For mine, I tell you that my Heart Would split, for size of me - The Meadows - mine - The Mountains - mine - All Forests - Stintless Stars - As much of noon, as I could take - Between my finite eyes - The Motions of the Dipping Birds - The Lightning's jointed Road - For mine - to look at when I liked, The news would strike me dead - So safer - guess - with just my soul Upon the window pane Where other creatures put their eyes - Incautious - of the Sun - ___ Of nearness to her sundered Things The Soul has special times - When Dimness - looks the Oddity - Distinctness - easy - seems - The Shapes we buried, dwell about, Familiar, in the Rooms - Untarnished by the Sepulchre, The Mouldering Playmate comes - In just the Jacket that he wore - Long buttoned in the Mold Since we - old mornings, Children - played - Divided - by a world - The Grave yields back her Robberies - The Years, our pilfered Things - Bright Knots of Apparitions Salute us, with their wings - As we - it were - that perished - Themself - had just remained till we rejoin them - And 'twas they, and not ourself That mourned - ___ Tie the Strings to my Life, My Lord, Then, I am ready to go! Just a look at the Horses - Rapid! That will do! Put me in on the firmest side - So I shall never fall - For we must ride to the Judgment - And it's partly, down Hill - But never I mind the steepest - And never I mind the Sea - Held fast in Everlasting Race - By my own Choice, and Thee - Goodbye to the Life I used to live - And the World I used to know - And kiss the Hills, for me, just once - Now - I am ready to go! ___ I like a look of Agony, Because I know it's true - Men do not sham Convulsion, Nor simulate, a Throe - The Eyes glaze once - and that is Death - Impossible to feign The Beads upon the Forehead By homely Anguish strung. ___ I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading - treading - till it seemed That Sense was breaking through - And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum - Kept beating - beating - till I thought My Mind was going numb - And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space - began to toll, As all the Heavens were a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race Wrecked, solitary, here - And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down - And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing - then - ___ 'Tis so appalling - it exhilarates - So over Horror, it half captivates - The Soul stares after it, secure - To know the worst, leaves no dread more - To scan a Ghost, is faint - But grappling, conquers it - How easy, Torment, now - Suspense kept sawing so - The Truth, is Bald, and Cold - But that will hold - If any are not sure - We show them - prayer - But we, who know, Stop hoping, now - Looking at Death, is Dying - Just let go the Breath - And not the pillow at your cheek So slumbereth - Others, can wrestle - Your's, is done - And so of Wo, bleak dreaded - come, It sets the Fright at liberty - And Terror's free - Gay, Ghastly, Holiday! ___ How noteless Men, and Pleiads, stand, Until a sudden sky Reveals the fact that One is rapt Forever from the Eye - Members of the Invisible, Existing, while we stare, In Leagueless Opportunity, O'ertakenless, as the Air - Why did'nt we detain Them? The Heavens with a smile, Sweep by our disappointed Heads Without a syllable - ___ When we stand on the tops of Things - And like the Trees, look down - The smoke all cleared away from it - And Mirrors on the scene - Just laying light - no soul will wink Except it have the flaw - The Sound ones, like the Hills - shall stand - No Lightning, scares away - The Perfect, nowhere be afraid - They bear their dauntless Heads, Where others, dare not go at noon, Protected by their deeds - The Stars dare shine occasionally Upon a spotted World - And Suns, go surer, for their Proof, As if an axle, held - ___ 'Twas just this time, last year, I died. I know I heard the Corn, When I was carried by the Farms - It had the Tassels on - I thought how yellow it would look - When Richard went to mill - And then, I wanted to get out, But something held my will. I thought just how Red - Apples wedged The Stubble's joints between - And Carts went stooping round the fields To take the Pumpkins in - I wondered which would miss me, least, And when Thanksgiving, came, If Father'd multiply the plates - To make an even Sum - And would it blur the Christmas glee My Stocking hang too high For any Santa Claus to reach The altitude of me - But this sort, grieved myself, And so, I thought the other way, How just this time, some perfect year - Themself, should come to me - ___ Afraid! Of whom am I afraid? Not Death - for who is He? The Porter of my Father's Lodge As much abasheth me! Of Life? 'Twere odd I fear a thing That comprehendeth me In one or two existences - Just as the case may be - Of Resurrection? Is the East Afraid to trust the Morn With her fastidious forehead? As soon impeach my Crown! ___ I showed her Hights she never saw - "Would'st Climb," I said? She said - "Not so" - "With me -" I said - With me? I showed her Secrets - Morning's Nest - The Rope the Nights were put across - And now - "Would'st have me for a Guest"? She could not find her Yes - And then, I brake my life - And Lo, A Light, for her, did solemn glow, The larger, as her face withdrew - And could she, further, "No"? ___