There comes a warning like a spy
A shorter breath of Day
A stealing that is not a stealth
And Summers are away --

Candor -- my tepid friend --
Come not to play with me --
The Myrrhs, and Mochas, of the Mind
Are its iniquity --

Follow wise Orion
Till you waste your Eye --
Dazzlingly decamping
He is just as high --

Now I lay thee down to Sleep --
I pray the Lord thy Dust to keep --
And if thou live before thou wake --
I pray the Lord thy Soul to make --

As imperceptibly as Grief
The Summer lapsed away --
Too imperceptible at last
To seem like Perfidy --
A Quietness distilled
As Twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered Afternoon --
The Dusk drew earlier in --
The Morning foreign shone --
A courteous, yet harrowing Grace,
As Guest, that would be gone --
And thus, without a Wing
Or service of a Keel
Our Summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.

No matter where the Saints abide,
They make their Circuit fair
Behold how great a Firmament
Accompanies a Star.

Come show thy Durham Breast
To her who loves thee best,
Delicious Robin --
And if it be not me
At least within my Tree
Do the avowing --
Thy Nuptial so minute
Perhaps is more astute
Than vaster suing --
For so to soar away
Is our propensity
The Day ensuing --

Obtaining but our own Extent
In whatsoever Realm --
'Twas Christ's own personal Expanse
That bore him from the Tomb --

Who has not found the Heaven -- below --
Will fail of it above --
For Angels rent the House next ours,
Wherever we remove --

The Bible is an antique Volume --
Written by faded men
At the suggestion of Holy Spectres --
Subjects -- Bethlehem --
Eden -- the ancient Homestead --
Satan -- the Brigadier --
Judas -- the Great Defaulter --
David -- the Troubador --
Sin -- a distinguished Precipice
Others must resist --
Boys that "believe" are very lonesome --
Other Boys are "lost" --
Had but the Tale a warbling Teller --
All the Boys would come --
Orpheus' Sermon captivated --
It did not condemn --

Sweet Pirate of the heart,
Not Pirate of the Sea,
What wrecketh thee?
Some spice's Mutiny --
Some Attar's perfidy?
Confide in me.

Hope is a subtle Glutton --
He feeds upon the Fair --
And yet -- inspected closely
What Abstinence is there --

His is the Halcyon Table --
That never seats but One --
And whatsoever is consumed
The same amount remain --

Meeting by Accident,
We hovered by design --
As often as a Century
An error so divine
Is ratified by Destiny,
But Destiny is old
And economical of Bliss
As Midas is of Gold --

My Wars are laid away in Books --
I have one Battle more --
A Foe whom I have never seen
But oft has scanned me o'er --
And hesitated me between
And others at my side,
But chose the best -- Neglecting me -- till
All the rest, have died --
How sweet if I am not forgot
By Chums that passed away --
Since Playmates at threescore and ten
Are such a scarcity --

The pattern of the sun
Can fit but him alone
For sheen must have a Disk
To be a sun --

Those -- dying then,
Knew where they went --
They went to God's Right Hand --
That Hand is amputated now
And God cannot be found --

The abdication of Belief
Makes the Behavior small --
Better an ignis fatuus
Than no illume at all --

Within thy Grave!
Oh no, but on some other flight --
Thou only camest to mankind
To rend it with Good night --

Bliss is the plaything of the child --
The secret of the man
The sacred stealth of Boy and Girl
Rebuke it if we can

"Go tell it" -- What a Message --
To whom -- is specified --
Not murmur -- not endearment --
But simply -- we -- obeyed --
Obeyed -- a Lure -- a Longing?
Oh Nature -- none of this --
To Law -- said sweet Thermopylae
I give my dying Kiss --