There is a Zone whose even Years
No Solstice interrupt --
Whose Sun constructs perpetual Noon
Whose perfect Seasons wait --

Whose Summer set in Summer, till
The Centuries of June
And Centuries of August cease
And Consciousness -- is Noon.

I had a daily Bliss
I half indifferent viewed
Till sudden I perceived it stir --
It grew as I pursued

Till when around a Height
It wasted from my sight
Increased beyond my utmost scope
I learned to estimate.

Bloom -- is Result -- to meet a Flower
And casually glance
Would scarcely cause one to suspect
The minor Circumstance

Assisting in the Bright Affair
So intricately done
Then offered as a Butterfly
To the Meridian --

To pack the Bud -- oppose the Worm --
Obtain its right of Dew --
Adjust the Heat -- elude the Wind --
Escape the prowling Bee

Great Nature not to disappoint
Awaiting Her that Day --
To be a Flower, is profound
Responsibility --

Sang from the Heart, Sire,
Dipped my Beak in it,
If the Tune drip too much
Have a tint too Red

Pardon the Cochineal --
Suffer the Vermillion --
Death is the Wealth
Of the Poorest Bird.

Bear with the Ballad --
Awkward -- faltering --
Death twists the strings --
'Twasn't my blame --

Pause in your Liturgies --
Wait your Chorals --
While I repeat your
Hallowed name --

Air has no Residence, no Neighbor,
No Ear, no Door,
No Apprehension of Another
Oh, Happy Air!

Ethereal Guest at e'en an Outcast's Pillow --
Essential Host, in Life's faint, wailing Inn,
Later than Light thy Consciousness accost me
Till it depart, persuading Mine --

Three Weeks passed since I had seen Her --
Some Disease had vext
'Twas with Text and Village Singing
I beheld Her next

And a Company -- our pleasure
To discourse alone --
Gracious now to me as any --
Gracious unto none --

Borne without dissent of Either
To the Parish night --
Of the Separated Parties
Which be out of sight?

He scanned it -- staggered --
Dropped the Loop
To Past or Period --
Caught helpless at a sense as if
His Mind were going blind --

Groped up, to see if God was there --
Groped backward at Himself
Caressed a Trigger absently
And wandered out of Life.

Ashes denote that Fire was --
Revere the Grayest Pile
For the Departed Creature's sake
That hovered there awhile --

Fire exists the first in light
And then consolidates
Only the Chemist can disclose
Into what Carbonates.

To help our Bleaker Parts
Salubrious Hours are given
Which if they do not fir for Earth
Drill silently for Heaven --

Let down the Bars, Oh Death --
The tired Flocks come in
Whose bleating ceases to repeat
Whose wandering is done --

Thine is the stillest night
Thine the securest Fold
Too near Thou art for seeking Thee
Too tender, to be told.

Fame's Boys and Girls, who never die
And are too seldom born --

Except the smaller size
No lives are round --
These -- hurry to a sphere
And show and end --
The larger -- slower grow
And later hang --
The Summers of Hesperides
Are long.

Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
Its unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.

Antiquest felt at Noon
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify

Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now

Paradise is of the option.
Whosoever will
Own in Eden notwithstanding
Adam and Repeal.

To undertake is to achieve
Be Undertaking blent
With fortitude of obstacle
And toward encouragement

That fine Suspicion, Natures must
Permitted to revere
Departed Standards and the few
Criterion Sources here