I had no time to Hate --
Because
The Grave would hinder Me --
And Life was not so
Ample I
Could finish -- Enmity --
Nor had I time to Love --
But since
Some Industry must be --
The little Toil of Love --
I thought
Be large enough for Me --
A chilly Peace infests the Grass
The Sun respectful lies --
Not any Trance of industry
These shadows scrutinize --
Whose Allies go no more astray
For service or for Glee --
But all mankind deliver here
From whatsoever sea --
When I was small, a Woman died --
Today -- her Only Boy
Went up from the Potomac --
His face all Victory
To look at her -- How slowly
The Seasons must have turned
Till Bullets clipt an Angle
And He passed quickly round --
If pride shall be in Paradise --
Ourself cannot decide --
Of their imperial Conduct --
No person testified --
But, proud in Apparition --
That Woman and her Boy
Pass back and forth, before my Brain
As even in the sky --
Our journey had advanced --
Our feet were almost come
To that odd Fork in Being's Road --
Eternity -- by Term --
Our pace took sudden awe --
Our feet -- reluctant -- led --
Before -- were Cities -- but Between --
The Forest of the Dead --
Retreat -- was out of Hope --
Behind -- a Sealed Route --
Eternity's White Flag -- Before --
And God -- at every Gate --
Is Heaven a Physician?
They say that He can heal --
But Medicine Posthumous
Is unavailable --
Is Heaven an Exchequer?
They speak of what we owe --
But that negotiation
I'm not a Party to --
The Moon upon her fluent Route
Defiant of a Road --
The Star's Etruscan Argument
Substantiate a God --
If Aims impel these Astral Ones
The ones allowed to know
Know that which makes them as forgot
As Dawn forgets them -- now --
Estranged from Beauty -- none can be --
For Beauty is Infinity --
And power to be finite ceased
Before Identity was leased.
In this short Life
That only lasts an hour
How much -- how little -- is
Within our power
Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
When they dislocate my Brain!
Amputate my freckled Bosom!
Make me bearded like a man!
Blush, my spirit, in thy Fastness --
Blush, my unacknowledged clay --
Seven years of troth have taught thee
More than Wifehood every may!
Love that never leaped its socket --
Trust entrenched in narrow pain --
Constancy thro' fire -- awarded --
Anguish -- bare of anodyne!
Burden -- borne so far triumphant --
None suspect me of the crown,
For I wear the "Thorns" till Sunset --
Then -- my Diadem put on.
"Arcturus" is his other name --
I'd rather call him "Star."
It's very mean of Science
To go and interfere!
I slew a worm the other day --
A "Savant" passing by
Murmured "Resurgam" -- "Centipede"!
"Oh Lord -- how frail are we"!
I pull a flower from the woods --
A monster with a glass
Computes the stamens in a breath --
And has her in a "class"!
Whereas I took the Butterfly
Aforetime in my hat --
He sits erect in "Cabinets" --
The Clover bells forgot.
How much the present moment means
To those who've nothing more --
The Fop -- the Carp -- the Atheist --
Stake an entire store
Upon a Moment's shallow Rim
While their commuted Feet
The Torrents of Eternity
Do all but inundate --
It can't be "Summer"!
That -- got through!
It's early -- yet -- for "Spring"!
There's that long town of White -- to cross --
Before the Blackbirds sing!
It can't be "Dying"!
It's too Rouge --
The Dead shall go in White --
So Sunset shuts my question down
With Cuffs of Chrysolite!