1657

Eden is that old-fashioned House
We dwell in every day
Without suspecting our abode
Until we drive away.

How fair on looking back, the Day
We sauntered from the Door --
Unconscious our returning,
But discover it no more.

Endanger it, and the Demand
Of tickets for a sigh
Amazes the Humility
Of Credibility --

Recover it to Nature
And that dejected Fleet
Find Consternation's Carnival
Divested of its Meat.

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.

Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer's Corn --
Men eat of it and die.

Glory is that bright tragic thing
That for an instant
Means Dominion --
Warms some poor name
That never felt the Sun,
Gently replacing
In oblivion --

Guest am I to have
Light my northern room
Why to cordiality so averse to come
Other friends adjourn
Other bonds decay
Why avoid so narrowly
My fidelity --

He went by sleep that drowsy route
To the surmising Inn --
At day break to begin his race
Or ever to remain --

His mind of man, a secret makes
I meet him with a start
He carries a circumference
In which I have no part --

Or even if I deem I do
He otherwise may know
Impregnable to inquest
However neighborly --

I did not reach Thee
But my feet slip nearer every day
Three Rivers and a Hill to cross
One Desert and a Sea
I shall not count the journey one
When I am telling thee.

Two deserts, but the Year is cold
So that will help the sand
One desert crossed --
The second one
Will feel as cool as land
Sahara is too little price
To pay for thy Right hand.

The Sea comes last -- Step merry, feet,
So short we have to go --
To play together we are prone,
But we must labor now,
The last shall be the lightest load
That we have had to draw.

The Sun goes crooked --
That is Night
Before he makes the bend.
We must have passed the Middle Sea --
Almost we wish the End
Were further off --
Too great it seems
So near the Whole to stand.

We step like Plush,
We stand like snow,
The waters murmur new.
Three rivers and the Hill are passed --
Two deserts and the sea!
Now Death usurps my Premium
And gets the look at Thee.

I know of people in the Grave
Who would be very glad
To know the news I know tonight
If they the chance had had.

'Tis this expands the least event
And swells the scantest deed --
My right to walk upon the Earth
If they this moment had.

I see thee clearer for the Grave
That took thy face between
No Mirror could illumine thee
Like that impassive stone --

I know thee better for the Act
That made thee first unknown
The stature of the empty nest
Attests the Bird that's gone.

I watcher her face to see which way
She took the awful news --
Whether she died before she heard
Or in protracted bruise
Remained a few slow years with us --
Each heavier than the last --
A further afternoon to fail,
As Flower at fall of Frost.

If I could tell how glad I was
I should not be so glad --
But when I cannot make the Force,
Nor mould it into Word,
I know it is a sign
That new Dilemna be
From mathematics further off
Than for Eternity.

In snow thou comest --
Thou shalt go with the resuming ground,
The sweet derision of the crow,
And Glee's advancing sound.

In fear thou comest --
Thou shalt go at such a gait of joy
That man anew embark to live
Upon the depth of thee.