The Soul's Superior instants Occur to Her - alone - When friend - and Earth's occasion Have infinite withdrawn - Or She - Herself - ascended To too remote a Hight For lower Recognition Than Her Omnipotent - This mortal Abolition Is seldom - but as fair As Apparition - subject To Autocratic Air - Eternity's disclosure To a Revering - Eye - Of the Colossal substance Of Immortality ___ Me prove it now - Whoever doubt Me stop to prove it - now - Make haste - the Scruple! Death be scant For Opportunity - The River reaches to my feet - As yet - my Heart be dry - Oh Lover - Life could not convince - Might Death - enable Thee - The River reaches to my Breast - Still - still - my Hands above Proclaim with their remaining Might - Dost recognize the Love? The River reaches to my Mouth - Remember - when the Sea Swept by my searching eyes - the last - Themselves were quick - with Thee! ___ To lose One's faith - surpass The loss of an Estate - Because Estates can be Replenished - faith cannot - Inherited with Life - Belief - but once - can be - Annihilate a single clause - And Being's - Beggary - ___ I saw no Way - The Heavens were stitched - I felt the Columns close - The Earth reversed her Hemispheres - I touched the Universe - And back it slid - and I alone - A speck upon a Ball - Went out upon Circumference - Beyond the Dip of Bell - ___ Had I presumed to hope - The loss had been to Me A Value - for the Greatness' Sake - As Giants - gone away - Had I presumed to gain A Favor so remote - The failure but confirm the Grace In further Infinite - 'Tis failure - not of Hope - But resolute Despair - Advancing on Celestial Lists - With faint - Terrestrial power - 'Tis Honor - though I die - For That no Man obtain Till He be justified by Death - This - is the Second Gain - ___ Sweet - You forgot - but I remembered Every time - for Two - So that the Sum be never hindered Through Decay of You - Say if I erred? Accuse my Farthings - Blame the little Hand Happy it be for You - a Beggar's - Seeking more - to spend - Just to be Rich - to waste my Guineas On so Best a Heart - Just to be Poor - for Barefoot Vision You - Sweet - Shut me out - ___ It struck me - every Day - The Lightning was as new As if the Cloud that instant slit And let the Fire through - It burned Me - in the Night - It Blistered to My Dream - It sickened fresh upon my sight - With every Morn that came - I though that Storm - was brief - The Maddest - quickest by - But Nature lost the Date of This - And left it in the Sky - ___ I went to thank Her - But She Slept - Her Bed - a funneled Stone - With Nosegays at the Head and Foot - That Travellers - had thrown - Who went to thank Her - But She Slept - 'Twas Short - to cross the Sea - To look upon Her like - alive - But turning back - 'twas slow - ___ The Future never spoke - Nor will he like the Dumb Report by Sign a Circumstance Of his Opaque To Come - But when the News be ripe Presents it in the Act - Forestalling Preparation - Escape - or Substitute - Indifference to him - The Dower - as the Doom - His Office but to execute Fate's - Telegram - to Him - ___ I gained it so - By Climbing slow - By Catching at the Twigs that grow Between the Bliss - and me - It hung so high As well the Sky Attempt by Strategy - I said I gained it - This - was all - Look, how I clutch it Lest it fall - And I a Pauper go - Unfitted by an instant's Grace For the Contented - Beggar's face I wore - an hour ago - ___ Death sets a Thing significant The Eye had hurried by Except a perished Creature Entreat us tenderly To ponder little Workmanships In Crayon, or in Wool, With "This was last Her fingers did" - Industrious until - The Thimble weighed too heavy - The stitches stopped - themselves - And then 'twas put among the Dust Upon the Closet shelves - A Book I have - a friend gave - Whose Pencil - here and there - Had notched the place that pleased Him - At Rest - His fingers are - Now - when I read - I read not - For interrupting Tears - Obliterate the Etchings Too Costly for Repairs. ___ What I can do - I will - Though it be little as a Daffodil - That I cannot - must be Unknown to possibility - ___ There is a flower that Bees prefer - And Butterflies - desire - To gain the Purple Democrat The Humming Bird - aspire - And Whatsoever Insect pass - A Honey bear away Proportioned to his several dearth And her - capacity - Her face be rounder than the Moon And ruddier than the Gown Or Orchis in the Pasture - Or Rhododendron - worn - She doth not wait for June - Before the World be Green - Her sturdy little Countenance Against the Wind - be seen - Contending with the Grass - Near Kinsman to Herself - For Privilege of Sod and Sun - Sweet Litigants for Life - And when the Hills be full - And newer fashions blow - Doth not retract a single spice For pang of jealousy - Her Public - be the Noon - Her Providence - the Sun - Her Progress - by the Bee - proclaimed - In sovreign - Swerveless Tune - The Bravest - of the Host - Surrendering - the last - Nor even of Defeat - aware - When cancelled by the Frost - ___ A Secret told - Ceases to be a Secret - then - A Secret - kept - That - can appal but One - Better of it - continual be afraid - Than it - And Whom you told it to - beside - ___ For Death - or rather For the Things 'twould buy - This - put away Life's Opportunity - The Things that Death will buy Are Room - Escape from Circumstances - And a Name - With Gifts of Life How Death's Gifts may compare - We know not - For the Rates - lie Here - ___ Exhilaration - is within - There can no Outer Wine So royally intoxicate As that diviner Brand The Soul achieves - Herself - To drink - or set away For Visiter - Or Sacrament - 'Tis not of Holiday To stimulate a Man Who hath the Ample Rhine Within his Closet - Best you can Exhale in offering - ___ 'Tis One by One - the Father counts - And then a Tract between Set Cypherless - to teach the Eye The Value of it's Ten - Until the peevish Student Acquire the Quick of Skill - Then Numerals are dowered back - Adorning all the Rule - 'Tis mostly Slate and Pencil - And Darkness on the School Distracts the Children's fingers - Still the Eternal Rule Regards least Cypherer alike With Leader of the Band - And every separate Urchin's Sum - Is fashioned for his hand - ___ To fill a Gap Insert the Thing that caused it - Block it up With Other - and 'twill yawn the more - You cannot solder an Abyss With Air. ___ I've seen a Dying Eye Run round and round a Room - In search of Something - as it seemed - Then Cloudier become - And then - obscure with Fog - And then - be soldered down Without disclosing what it be 'Twere blessed to have seen - ___ No Rack can torture me - My Soul - at Liberty - Behind this mortal Bone There knits a bolder One - You cannot prick with Saw - Nor pierce with Cimitar - Two Bodies - therefore be - Bind One - The Other fly - The Eagle of his Nest No easier divest - And gain the Sky Than mayest Thou - Except Thyself may be Thine Enemy - Captivity is Consciousness - So's Liberty. ___ Death is potential to that Man Who dies - and to his friend - Beyond that - unconspicuous To Anyone but God - Of these Two - God remembers The longest - for the friend - Is integral - and therefore Itself dissolved - of God - ___ Smiling back from Coronation May be Luxury - On the Heads that started with us - Being's Peasantry - Recognizing in Procession Ones We former knew - When Ourselves were also dusty - Centuries ago - Had the Triumph no Conviction Of how many be - Stimulated - by the Contrast - Unto Misery - ___ That I did always love I bring thee Proof That till I loved I never lived - Enough - That I shall love alway - I argue thee That love is life - And life hath Immortality - This - dost thou doubt - Sweet - Then have I Nothing to show But Calvary - ___