It sifts from Leaden Sieves -
It ponders all the Field -
It fills with Alabaster Wool
The Wrinkles of the Road -

It makes an even face of
Of Mountain - and of Plain -
Unbroken Forehead from the East
Unto the East - again -

It reaches to the Fence -
It wraps it, Rail by Rail,
Till it is lost in Fleeces -
It +*flings a Crystal Vail

On Stump - and Stack - and
Stem -
The Summer's Empty Room -
Acres of +*Joints - Where Harvests
were -
Recordless - but for them -

It Ruffles Wrists of Posts -
As Ancles of a Queen -
Then stills it's +Artisans - like
+Swans -
Denying they have been -
+* deals celestial Vail -
+ Myrmidons + Ghosts -
+* Acres of Seams -

              

Like Mighty Foot Lights - burned
the Red
At Bases of the Trees -
The far Theatricals of Day
Exhibiting - to These -

'Twas Universe - that did + Applaud -
While Chiefest -+of the Crowd -
Enabled by his Royal Dress -
Myself distinguished God -
+ attend + in -

              

A Pit - but Heaven over it -
And Heaven beside, and Heaven abroad;
And yet a Pit -
With Heaven over it.

To stir would be to slip -
To look would be to drop -
To dream - to sap the Prop
That holds my chances up.
Ah! Pit! With Heaven over it!

The depth is all my thought -
I dare not ask my feet -
'Twould start us where we sit
So straight you'd scarce suspect

It was a Pit - with fathoms under it
Its Circuit just the same
Whose Doom to whom

              

A curious Cloud surprised the Sky,
'Twas like a sheet with Horns;
The sheet was Blue -
The Antlers Gray -
It almost touched the Lawns.

So low it leaned - then statelier drew -
And trailed like robes away;
A Queen adown a satin aisle,
Had not the majesty.

              

              [no manuscript copy of either poem exists]

Of Brussels - it was not -
Of Kidderminster? Nay -
The Winds did buy it of
the Woods -
+They - sold it unto me

It was a gentle price -
The poorest - could afford -
It was within the frugal
purse
Of Beggar - or of Bird -

Of small and spicy +Yards -
In hue - a Mellow Dun -
Of Sunshine - and of Sere -
Composed -
But, principally - of Sun -

The Wind - unrolled it fast -
And spread it on the Ground -
Upholsterer of the Pines - is
He -
Upholsterer - of the Pond -
+ then - sell it + Breadths -
+ of the Sea + of the land -
+ Hills -

              

He found my Being - set
it up -
Adjusted it to place -
+Then carved his name - upon it -
+And bade it to the East

Be faithful - in his Absence -
And he would come again -
With Equipage of Amber -
That time - to take it Home
+ He wrote + then -

              

Unto my Books - so good
to turn -
Far ends of +tired Days -
It half endears the Abstinence -
And Pain + - is missed - in Praise -

As Flavors - Cheer Retarded
Guests
With Banquettings to be -
So Spices - stimulate the time
Till my small Library -

It may be Wilderness - without -
Far feet of failing Men -
But Holiday - Excludes the Night -
And it is Bells - Within -

I thank these Kinsmen of the Shelf -
Their Countenances Kid
Enamor - in Prospective -
And satisfy - obtained -
+ Homely -        [these are written sideways alongside the last 3 ll.]
+ Forgets - for -

              

The Spider holds a Silver Ball
In unperceived Hands -
+as He knits
And +dancing softly +to Himself
His +Yarn of Pearl +unwinds -
+expends -

He plies from Nought to Nought -
In unsubstantial Trade -
Supplants our Tapestries with His -
In half the period -

An Hour to rear Supreme
His +Continents of Light -
Then +dangle from the Housewife's
Broom -
His +Boundaries - forgot -
+ Pursues his pearl, strands - + Coil -
+ Theories + perish by + Sophistries -
Three times - we parted -
Breath - and I -
Three times - He would not go -
But strove to stir the
+lifeless Fan
The Waters - strove to stay -

Three times - the Billows+ threw
me up -
Then caught me - like a Ball -
Then made Blue faces in my
face -
And pushed away a Sail

That crawled Leagues off -
I liked to see -
For thinking - While I die -
How pleasant to behold a
Thing
Where Human faces - be -

The + Waves grew sleepy -
Breath - did not -
The Winds - like Children -
lulled -
Then Sunrise kissed my
Chrysalis -
And I stood up - and lived -

+ flickering fan + tossed +
the Ocean - tired - wearied -

              

There is a pain - so utter -
It swallows +substance up -
Then covers the Abyss with Trance -
So Memory can step
Around - Across - upon it -
As One within A Swoon -
Goes +safely - where an Open Eye -
Would drop Him - Bone by Bone -
+ Being        [these are written sideways alongside the last 4 ll.]
+ Steady -
+ Spill Him -
It troubled me as once I was -
For I was once a Child -
+Deciding -
+Concluding how an Atom - fell -
And yet the Heavens - held -

+were the weightiest - far -
The Heavens +weighed the most -
by far - + easy
Yet Blue - and +solid - stood -
Without a Bolt - that I could
prove -
+Would Giants - understand?
+ did - might

Life set me larger - problems -
+ save solve
Some I shall keep to prove
+ where
+Till Algebra is easier -
Or simpler proved - above -

There - too - be comprehended -
What sorer - puzzled me -
Why Heaven did not break away -
And tumble - Blue - on me -

              

A still - +Volcanic - Life -
That flickered in the night -
When it was dark enough
to +do
Without +erasing sight -

A quiet - Earthquake Style -
Too +subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples -
The North cannot detect

The solemn - Torrid - Symbol -
The lips that never lie -
Whose hissing Corals part - and shut -
And Cities - +ooze away -
+ Volcano + show + Endangering + smoulder-
ing + slip - slide - melt -

              

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 - No person testified -

But, proud in Apparition -
That Woman and her Boy
Pass back and forth, before
My Brain
As Even in the Sky -

I'm confident that Bravoes -
Perpetual + break abroad
For Braveries, remote as + this
In +Tender Maryland -
                            +went
+ softly - + be - go - + His
+ Scarlet + just sealed in + proved -

              

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to me -
The simple News that Nature told -
With tender Majesty

Her message is Committed
To Hands I cannot see -
For love of Her - Sweet - Country-
men -
Judge tenderly - of me

              

God made a little Gentian -
It tried - to be a Rose -
And failed - and all the Summer
laughed -
But just before the Snows

There rose a Purple Creature -
That ravished all the Hill -
And Summer hid her Forehead -
And Mockery - was still -

The Frost were her condition -
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North - invoke it -
Creator - Shall I - bloom?

              

My Reward for Being -
was This -
My Premium - My Bliss -
An Admiralty, less -
A Sceptre - penniless -
And Realms - just Dross -

When Thrones - accost My Hands -
With "Me - Miss - Me -"
I'll unroll - Thee -
Sufficient Dynasty -
Creation - powerless -
To Peer this Grace -
Empire - State -
Too little - Dust -
To Dower - so Great -

              

It always felt to me - a
wrong
To that Old Moses - done -
To let him see - the Canaan -
Without - the Entering -

And tho' in soberer moments -
No Moses there can be
I'm satisfied - the Romance
In point of injury -

Surpasses sharper stated -
Of Stephen - or of Paul -
For these - were only put to
death -
While God's adroiter will

On Moses - seemed to fasten
+With tantalizing Play + in
As Boy - should deal with
lesser Boy -
To +prove ability -

The fault - was doubtless
Israel's -
My self - had banned the Tribes -
And ushered Grand Old
Moses
In Pentateuchal Robes

Upon the Broad Possession
+'Twas little - He should see -
Old Man on Nebo! Late as
this -
+My justice bleeds - for Thee!

+ show supremacy + Lawful Manor -
+ But titled Him - to see - + One -

              

I tie My Hat - I crease -
My Shawl -
Life's little Duties do - pre-
cisely -
As the very least
Were infinite - to me -

I put New Blossoms in the
Glass -
And throw the Old - away -
I push a petal from my
Gown
That anchored there - I
weigh
The time 'twill be till six
o'clock -
2 I have - 1 so much 3 to do -
And yet - Existence - some way
back -
Stopped - Struck - my
ticking - through -

We cannot put Ourself away
As a completed Man
Or Woman - When the Er-
rand's done
We came to Flesh - upon -
There may be - Miles on Miles
of Nought -
Of Action - sicker far -
To simulate - is stinging work -
To cover what we are
From Science - and from Surgery -
Too Telescopic Eyes
To bear on us Unshaded -
For their - sake - not for
Our's -

              

'Twould start them -                     [end of "A Pit - but
We - could tremble -                     Heaven over it - " ?]
But since we got a
Bomb -
And held it in our Bosom -
Nay - Hold it - it is Calm -

              

Therefore - We
do life's                     [end of "I tie My Hat -"?]
labor -
Though life's Reward - be done -
With scrupulous Exactness -
To hold our Senses - on -

              

The Trees like Tassels - hit -
And swung -
There seemed to rise a Tune
From Miniature Creatures
Accompanying the Sun -

Far Psalteries of Summer -
Enamoring the Ear
They never yet did satisfy -
Remotest - when most + fair - + near -

The Sun shone whole at intervals -
Then Half - then utter hid -
As if Himself were Optional
And +had Estates of Cloud + owned

Sufficient to enfold Him
Eternally from view -
Except it were a whim of His
To let the Orchards grow -

A Bird sat careless on the fence -
One gossipped in the Lane
On silver matters charmed
A Snake
Just winding round a Stone -

              

Bright Flowers slit a Calyx
+And soared upon a Stem + or
Like Hindered Flags - Sweet hoisted -
With Spices - in the Hem -

'Twas more - I cannot men-
tion -
How mean - to those that see -
Vandyke's Delineation
Of Nature's - Summer Day!

              

It feels a Shame to be
Alive -
When Men so brave - are dead -
One Envies the Distinguished
Dust -
Permitted - such a Head -

The Stone - that tells defending
Whom
This Spartan put away
What little of Him we -
possessed
In Pawn for Liberty -

The Price is great - Sublimely
paid -
Do we deserve - a Thing -
That lives - like Dollars -
must be piled
Before we may obtain?

Are we that wait -
sufficient worth -
That such Enormous Pearl
As life - dissolved be - for
us -
In Battle's - horrid Bowl?

It may be - a Renown
to live -
I think the men who die -
Those unsustained - Saviors -
Present Divinity -

              

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