A Drop Fell on the Apple Tree --
Another -- on the Roof --
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves --
And made the Gables laugh --

A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea --
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls --
What Necklace could be --

The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads --
The Birds jocoser sung --
The Sunshine threw his Hat away --
The Bushes -- spangles flung --

The Breezes brought dejected Lutes --
And bathed them in the Glee --
Then Orient showed a single Flag,
And signed the Fete away --

Her final Summer was it --
And yet We guessed it not --
If tenderer industriousness
Pervaded Her, We thought

A further force of life
Developed from within --
When Death lit all the shortness up
It made the hurry plain --

We wondered at our blindness
When nothing was to see
But Her Carrara Guide post --
At Our Stupidity --

When duller than our dullness
The Busy Darling lay --
So busy was she -- finishing --
So leisurely -- were We --

Who Giants know, with lesser Men
Are incomplete, and shy --
For Greatness, that is ill at ease
In minor Company --

A Smaller, could not be perturbed --
The Summer Gnat displays --
Unconscious that his single Fleet
Do not comprise the skies --

By my Window have I for Scenery
Just a Sea -- with a Stem --
If the Bird and the Farmer -- deem it a "Pine" --
The Opinion will serve -- for them --

It has no Port, nor a "Line" -- but the Jays --
That split their route to the Sky --
Or a Squirrel, whose giddy Peninsula
May be easier reached -- this way --

For Inlands -- the Earth is the under side --
And the upper side -- is the Sun --
And its Commerce -- if Commerce it have --
Of Spice -- I infer from the Odors borne --

Of its Voice -- to affirm -- when the Wind is within --
Can the Dumb -- define the Divine?
The Definition of Melody -- is --
That Definition is none --

It -- suggests to our Faith --
They -- suggest to our Sight --
When the latter -- is put away
I shall meet with Conviction I somewhere met
That Immortality --

Was the Pine at my Window a "Fellow
Of the Royal" Infinity?
Apprehensions -- are God's introductions --
To be hallowed -- accordingly --

She staked her Feathers -- Gained an Arc --
Debated -- Rose again --
This time -- beyond the estimate
Of Envy, or of Men --

And now, among Circumference --
Her steady Boat be seen --
At home -- among the Billows -- As
The Bough where she was born --

Despair's advantage is achieved
By suffering -- Despair --
To be assisted of Reverse
One must Reverse have bore --

The Worthiness of Suffering like
The Worthiness of Death
Is ascertained by tasting --

As can no other Mouth

Of Savors -- make us conscious --
As did ourselves partake --
Affliction feels impalpable
Until Ourselves are struck --