I years had been from home:
To learn the transport by the pain:
I gained it so:
I had been hungry all the years:
This merit hath the worst:
Unto my books so good to turn:
I many times thought peace had come:
I many times thought peace had come,
When peace was far away;
As wrecked men deem they sight the land
At centre of the sea,
And struggle slacker, but to prove, 5
As hopelessly as I,
How many the fictitious shores
Before the harbor lie.
Heart not so heavy as mine:
Undue significance a starving man attaches:
Undue significance a starving man attaches
To food
Far off; he sighs, and therefore hopeless,
And therefore good.
Partaken, it relieves indeed, but proves us 5
That spices fly
In the receipt. It was the distance
Was savory.
The body grows outside:
The body grows outside,—
The more convenient way,—
That if the spirit like to hide,
Its temple stands alway
Ajar, secure, inviting; 5
It never did betray
The soul that asked its shelter
In timid honesty
Remorse is memory awake:
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Mine enemy is growing old:
Mine enemy is growing old,—
I have at last revenge.
The palate of the hate departs;
If any would avenge,—
Let him be quick, the viand flits, 5
It is a faded meat.
Anger as soon as fed is dead;
’t is starving makes it fat.
A deed knocks first at thought:
A deed knocks first at thought,
And then it knocks at will.
That is the manufacturing spot,
And will at home and well.
It then goes out an act, 5
Or is entombed so still
That only to the ear of God
Its doom is audible.
When I hoped I feared:
When I hoped I feared,
Since I hoped I dared;
Everywhere alone
As a church remain;
Spectre cannot harm, 5
Serpent cannot charm;
He deposes doom,
Who hath suffered him.
Good night! which put the candle out:
Good night! which put the candle out?
A jealous zephyr, not a doubt.
Ah! friend, you little knew
How long at that celestial wick
The angels labored diligent;
Extinguished, now, for you!
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He preached upon breadth:
He preached upon “breadth” till it argued him narrow,—
The broad are too broad to define:
And of “truth” until it proclaimed him a liar,—
The truth never flaunted a sign.
Simplicity fled from his counterfeit presence 5
As gold the pyrites would shun.
What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus
To meet so enabled a man!
Talk with prudence to a beggar:
Talk with prudence to a beggar
Of “Potosi” and the mines!
Reverently to the hungry
Of your viands and your wines!
Cautious, hint to any captive 5
You have passed enfranchised feet!
Anecdotes of air in dungeons
Have sometimes proved deadly sweet!
Before I got my eye put out:
Each life converges to some centre:
A shady friend for torrid days:
A shady friend for torrid days
Is easier to find
Than one of higher temperature
For frigid hour of mind.
The vane a little to the east
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I took my power in my hand:
I took my power in my hand
And went against the world;
’T was not so much as David had,
But I was twice as bold.
I aimed my pebble, but myself 5
Was all the one that fell.
Was it Goliath was too large,
Or only I too small?
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Portraits are to daily faces:
Portraits are to daily faces
As an evening west
To a fine, pedantic sunshine
In a satin vest.
Except the heaven had come so near:
Except the heaven had come so near,
So seemed to choose my door,
The distance would not haunt me so;
I had not hoped before.
But just to hear the grace depart 5
I never thought to see,
Afflicts me with a double loss;
’T is lost, and lost to me.
Faith is a fine invention:
Faith is a fine invention
For gentlemen who see;
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency!
Experiment to me:
Experiment to me
Is every one I meet.
If it contain a kernel?
The figure of a nut
Presents upon a tree, 5
Equally plausibly;
But meat within is requisite,
To squirrels and to me.
God gave a loaf to every bird:
God gave a loaf to every bird,
But just a crumb to me;
I dare not eat it, though I starve,—
My poignant luxury
To own it, touch it, prove the feat 5
That made the pellet mine,—
Too happy in my sparrow chance
For ampler coveting.
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Victory comes late:
Victory comes late,
And is held low to freezing lips
Too rapt with frost
To take it.
How sweet it would have tasted,
Just a drop!
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It tossed and tossed:
It tossed and tossed,—
A little brig I knew,—
O’ertook by blast,
It spun and spun,
And groped delirious, for morn.
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I should have been too glad, I see:
I should have been too glad, I see,
Too lifted for the scant degree
Of life’s penurious round;
My little circuit would have shamed
This new circumference, have blamed 5
The homelier time behind.
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