I took one Draught of Life - I'll tell you what I paid - Precisely an existence - The market price, they said. They weighed me, Dust by Dust - They balanced Film with Film, Then handed me my Being's worth - A single Dram of Heaven! ___ A train went through a burial gate, A bird broke forth and sang, And trilled, and quivered, and shook his throat Till all the churchyard rang; And then adjusted his little notes, And bowed and sang again. Doubtless, he thought it meet of him To say good by to men. ___ The Morning after Wo - 'Tis frequently the Way - Surpasses all that rose before - For utter Jubilee - As Nature did not Care - And piled her Blossoms on - And further to parade a Joy Her Victim stared upon - The Birds declaim their Tunes - Pronouncing every word Like Hammers - Did they know they fell Like Litanies of Lead - On here and there - a creature - They'd modify the Glee To fit some Crucifixal Clef - Some Key of Calvary - ___ Departed - to the Judgment - A Mighty - Afternoon - Great Clouds - like Ushers - leaning - Creation - looking on - The Flesh - Surrendered - Cancelled - The Bodiless - begun - Two Worlds - like Audiences - disperse - And leave the Soul - alone - ___ I think the Hemlock likes to stand Upon a Marge of Snow - It suits his own Austerity - And satisfies an awe That men, must slake in Wilderness - And in the Desert - cloy - An instinct for the Hoar, the Bald - Lapland's - nescessity - The Hemlock's nature thrives - on cold - The Gnash of Northern winds Is sweetest nutriment - to him - His best Norwegian Wines - To satin Races - he is nought - But Children on the Don, Beneath his Tabernacles, play, And Dnieper Wrestlers, run. ___ Dare you see a Soul at the "White Heat"? Then crouch within the door - Red - is the Fire's common tint - But when the quickened Ore Has sated Flame's conditions - She quivers from the Forge Without a color, but the Light Of unannointed Blaze - Least Village, boasts it's Blacksmith - Whose Anvil's even ring Stands symbol for the finer Forge That soundless tugs - within - Refining these impatient Ores With Hammer, and with Blaze Until the Designated Light Repudiate the Forge - ___ To hear an Oriole sing May be a common thing - Or only a divine. It is not of the Bird Who sings the same, unheard, As unto Crowd - The Fashion of the Ear Attireth that it hear In Dun, or fair - So whether it be Rune, Or whether it be din - Is of within. The "Tune is in the Tree -" The Skeptic - showeth me - "No Sir! In Thee!" ___ I reason, Earth is short - And Anguish - absolute - And many hurt, But, what of that? I reason, we could die - The best Vitality Cannot excel Decay, But, what of that? I reason, that in Heaven - Somehow, it will be even - Some new Equation, given - But, what of that? ___ To put this World down, like a Bundle - And walk steady, away, Requires Energy - possibly Agony - 'Tis the Scarlet way Trodden with straight renunciation By the Son of God - Later, his faint Confederates Justify the Road - Flavors of that old Crucifixion - Filaments of Bloom, Pontius Pilate sowed - Strong Clusters, from Barabbas' Tomb - Sacrament, Saints partook before us - Patent, every drop, With the Brand of the Gentile Drinker Who enforced the Cup - ___ Although I put away his life - An Ornament too grand For Forehead low as mine, to wear, This might have been the Hand That sowed the flower, he preferred - Or smoothed a homely pain, Or pushed the pebble from his path - Or played his chosen tune - On Lute the least - the latest - But just his ear could know That whatsoe'er delighted it, I never would let go - The foot to bear his errand - A little Boot I know - Would leap abroad like Antelope - With just the grant to do - His weariest Commandment - A sweeter to obey, Than "Hide and Seek" - Or skip to Flutes - Or all Day, chase the Bee - Your Servant, Sir, will weary - The Surgeon, will not come - The World, will have it's own - to do - The Dust, will vex your Fame - The Cold will force your tightest door Some February Day, But say my apron bring the sticks To make your Cottage gay - That I may take that promise To Paradise, with me - To teach the Angels, avarice, You, Sir, taught first - to me. ___ Over and over, like a Tune - The Recollection plays - Drums off the Phantom Battlements Cornets of Paradise - Snatches, from Baptized Generations - Cadences too grand But for the Justified Processions At the Lord's Right hand. ___ One need not be a chamber - to be Haunted - One need not be a House - The Brain - has Corridors surpassing Material Place - Far safer of a Midnight - meeting External Ghost - Than an Interior - confronting - That cooler - Host - Far safer, through an Abbey - gallop - The Stones a'chase - Than moonless - One's A'self encounter - In lonesome place - Ourself - behind Ourself - Concealed - Should startle - most - Assassin - hid in Our Apartment - Be Horror's least - The Prudent - carries a Revolver - He bolts the Door - O'erlooking a Superior Spectre - More near - ___ Like Some Old fashioned Miracle When Summertime is done - Seems Summer's Recollection And the Affairs of June As infinite Tradition As Cinderella's Bays - Or Little John - of Lincoln Green - Or Blue Beard's Galleries - Her Bees have a fictitious Hum - Her Blossoms, like a Dream - Elate us - till we almost weep - So plausible - they seem - Her Memories like Strains - Review - When Orchestra is dumb - The Violin in Baize replaced - And Ear - and Heaven - numb - ___ The Soul selects her own Society - Then - shuts the Door - To her divine Majority - Present no more - Unmoved - she notes the Chariots - pausing - At her low Gate - Unmoved - an Emperor be kneeling Upon her Mat - I've known her - from an ample nation - Choose One - Then - close the Valves of her attention - Like Stone - ___ How sick - to wait - in any place - but thine - I knew last night - when someone tried to twine - Thinking - perhaps - that I looked tired - or alone - Or breaking - almost - with unspoken pain - And I turned - ducal - That right - was thine - One port - suffices - for a Brig - like mine - Our's be the tossing - wild though the sea - Rather than a Mooring - unshared by thee. Our's be the Cargo - unladen - here - Rather than the "spicy isles -" And thou - not there - ___ Mine - by the Right of the White Election! Mine - by the Royal Seal! Mine - by the Sign in the Scarlet prison - Bars - cannot conceal! Mine - here - in Vision - and in Veto! Mine - by the Grave's Repeal - Titled - Confirmed - Delirious Charter! Mine - while Ages steal! ___ She lay as if at play Her life had leaped away - Intending to return - But not so soon - Her merry Arms, half dropt - As if for lull of sport - An instant had forgot - The Trick to start - Her dancing Eyes - ajar - As if their Owner were Still sparkling through For fun - at you - Her Morning at the door - Devising, I am sure - To force her sleep - So light - so deep - ___ Heaven is so far of the Mind That were the Mind dissolved - The Site - of it - by Architect Could not again be proved - 'Tis vast - as our Capacity - As fair - as our idea - To Him of adequate desire No further 'tis, than Here - ___