The Way I read a Letter's - this - 'Tis first - I lock the Door - And push it with my fingers - next - For transport it be sure - And then I go the furthest off To counteract a knock - Then draw my little Letter forth And slily pick the lock - Then - glancing narrow, at the Wall - And narrow at the floor For firm Conviction of a Mouse Not exorcised before - Peruse how infinite I am To no one that You - know - And sigh for lack of Heaven - but not The Heaven God bestow - ___ The Child's faith is new - Whole - like His Principle - Wide - like the Sunrise On fresh Eyes - Never had a Doubt - Laughs - at a Scruple - Believes all sham But Paradise - Credits the World - Deems His Dominion Broadest of Sovreignties - And Caesar - mean - In the Comparison - Baseless Emperor - Ruler of nought, Yet swaying all - Grown bye and bye To hold mistaken His pretty estimates Of Prickly Things He gains the skill Sorrowful - as certain - Men - to anticipate Instead of Kings - ___ Except the Heaven had come so near - So seemed to choose My Door - The Distance would not haunt me so - I had not hoped - before - But just to hear the Grace depart - I never thought to see - Afflicts me with a Double loss - 'Tis lost - and lost to me - ___ To My Small Hearth His fire came - And all My House aglow Did fan and rock, with sudden light - 'Twas Sunrise - 'twas the Sky - Impanelled from no Summer brief - With license of Decay - 'Twas Noon - without the News of Night - 'Twas further - it was Day - ___ My Portion is Defeat - today - A paler luck than Victory - Less Paeans - fewer Bells - The Drums dont follow Me - with tunes - Defeat - a something dumber - means - More Arduous than Balls - 'Tis populous with Bone and stain - And Men too straight to stoop again - And Piles of solid Moan - And Chips of Blank - in Boyish Eyes - And shreds of Prayer - And Death's surprise, Stamped visible - in Stone - There's something prouder, Over there - The Trumpets tell it to the Air - How different Victory To Him who has it - and the One Who to have had it, would have been Contenteder - to die - ___ I am ashamed - I hide - What right have I - to be a Bride - So late a Dowerless Girl - Nowhere to hide my dazzled Face - No one to teach me that new Grace - Nor introduce - my soul - Me to adorn - How - tell - Trinket - to make Me beautiful - Fabrics of Cashmere - Never a Gown of Dun - more - Raiment instead - of Pompadour - For Me - My Soul - to wear - Fingers - to frame my Round Hair Oval - as Feudal Ladies wore - Far Fashions - Fair - Skill - to hold my Brow like an Earl - Plead - like a Whippowil - Prove - like a Pearl - Then, for Character - Fashion My Spirit quaint - white - Quick - like a Liquor - Gay - like Light - Bring Me my best Pride - No more ashamed - No more to hide - Meek - let it be - too proud - for Pride - Baptized - this Day - A Bride - ___ I cannot live with You - It would be Life - And Life is over there - Behind the Shelf The Sexton keeps the key to - Putting up Our Life - His Porcelain - Like a Cup - Discarded of the Housewife - Quaint - or Broke - A newer Sevres pleases - Old Ones crack - I could not die - with You - For One must wait To shut the Other's Gaze down - You - could not - And I - Could I stand by And see You - freeze - Without my Right of Frost - Death's privilege? Nor could I rise - with You - Because Your Face Would put out Jesus' - That New Grace Glow plain - and foreign On my homesick eye - Except that You than He Shone closer by - They'd judge Us - How - For You - served Heaven - You know, Or sought to - I could not - Because You saturated sight - And I had no more eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise And were You lost, I would be - Though my name Rang loudest On the Heavenly fame - And were You - saved - And I - condemned to be Where You were not - That self - were Hell to me - So We must meet apart - You there - I - here - With just the Door ajar That Oceans are - and Prayer - And that White Sustenance - Despair - ___ Size circumscribes - it has no room For petty furniture - The Giant tolerates no Gnat For Ease of Gianture - Repudiates it, all the more - Because intrinsic size Ignores the possibility Of Calumnies - or Flies. ___ They put Us far apart - As separate as Sea And Her unsown Peninsula - We signified "These see" - They took away our Eyes - They thwarted Us with Guns - "I see Thee" Each responded straight Through Telegraphic Signs - With Dungeons - They devised - But through their thickest skill - And their opaquest Adamant - Our Souls saw - just as well - They summoned Us to die - With sweet alacrity We stood upon our stapled feet - Condemned - but just - to see - Permission to recant - Permission to forget - We turned our backs upon the Sun For perjury of that - Not Either - noticed Death - Of Paradise - aware - Each other's Face - was all the Disc Each other's setting - saw - ___ Me from Myself - to banish - Had I Art - Invincible My Fortress Unto All Heart - But since Myself - assault Me - How have I peace Except by subjugating Consciousness? And since We're Mutual Monarch How this be Except by Abdication - Me - of Me -? ___ Doom is the House without the Door - 'Tis entered from the Sun - And then the Ladder's thrown away, Because Escape - is done - 'Tis varied by the Dream Of what they do outside - Where Squirrels play - and Berries dye - And Hemlocks - bow - to God - ___ I should have been too glad, I see - Too lifted - for the scant degree Of Life's penurious Round - My little Circuit would have shamed This new Circumference - have blamed - The homelier time behind - I should have been too saved - I see - Too rescued - Fear too dim to me That I could spell the Prayer I knew so perfect - yesterday - That Scalding One - Sabacthini - Recited fluent - here - Earth would have been too much - I see - And Heaven - not enough for me - I should have had the Joy Without the Fear - to justify - The Palm - without the Calvary - So Savior - Crucify - Defeat whets Victory - they say - The Reefs in old Gethsemane Endear the Shore beyond - 'Tis Beggars - Banquets best define - 'Tis Thirsting - vitalizes Wine - Faith bleats to understand - ___ I meant to have but modest needs - Such as Content - and Heaven - Within my income - these could lie And Life and I - keep even - But since the last - included both - It would suffice my Prayer But just for One - to stipulate - And Grace would grant the Pair - And so - upon this wise - I prayed - Great Spirit - Give to me A Heaven not so large as Your's, But large enough - for me - A Smile suffused Jehovah's face - The Cherubim - withdrew - Grave Saints stole out to look at me - And showed their dimples - too - I left the Place - with all my might - I threw my Prayer away - The Quiet Ages picked it up - And Judgment - twinkled - too - That one so honest - be extant - It take the Tale for true - That "Whatsoever Ye shall ask - Itself be given You" - But I, grown shrewder - scan the Skies With a suspicious Air - As Children - swindled for the first All Swindlers - be - infer - ___ I could suffice for Him, I knew - He - could suffice for Me - Yet Hesitating Fractions - Both Delayed Infinity - "Would I be Whole" He sudden broached - My Syllable rebelled - 'Twas face to face with Nature - forced - 'Twas face to face with God - Withdrew the Sun - to other Wests - Withdrew the furthest Star Before Decision - stooped to speech - And then - be audibler The Answer of the Sea unto The Motion of the Moon - Herself adjust Her Tides - unto - Could I - do else - with Mine? ___ You left me - Sire - two Legacies - A Legacy of Love A Heavenly Father would suffice Had He the offer of - You left me Boundaries of Pain - Capacious as the Sea - Between Eternity and Time - Your Consciousness - and Me - ___ No Man can compass a Despair - As round a Goalless Road No faster than a Mile at once The Traveller proceed - Unconscious of the Width - Unconscious that the Sun Be setting on His progress - So accurate the one At estimating Pain - Whose own - has just begun - His ignorance - the Angel That pilot Him along - ___