The thoughtful grave encloses—
Tenderly tucking them in from frost
Before their feet are cold.
Never the treasures in her nest
The cautious grave exposes,
Building where schoolboy dare not look,
And sportsman is not bold.
This covert have all the children
Early aged, and often cold,
Sparrow, unnoticed by the Father—
Lambs for whom time had not a fold.
Upon a single Wheel—Whose spokes a dizzy Music makeAs ’twere a travelling Mill—He never stops, but slackensAbove the Ripest Rose—Partakes without alightingAnd praises as he goes,Till every spice is tasted—And then his Fairy GigReels in remoter atmospheres—And I rejoin my Dog,And He and I, perplex usIf positive, ’twere we—Or bore the Garden in the BrainThis…
The Man who would possessMust first presentCertificateOf minted Holiness.
Debated—Rose again—This time—beyond the estimateOf Envy, or of Men—And now, among Circumference—Her steady Boat be seen—At home—among the Billows—AsThe Bough where she was born—
And stop to feed itself at tanks;And then, prodigious, stepAround a pile of mountains,And, supercilious, peerIn shanties by the sides of roads;And then a quarry pareTo fit its sides, and crawl between,Complaining all the whileIn horrid, hooting stanza;Then chase itself down the hillAnd neigh like Boanerges;Then, punctual as a star,Stop – docile and omnipotent –At…
The Hill—the Afternoon—Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—Nay—Nature is Heaven—Nature is what we hear—The Bobolink—the Sea—Thunder—the Cricket—Nay—Nature is Harmony—Nature is what we know—Yet have no art to say—So impotent Our Wisdom isTo her Simplicity.
For I was once a Child—Concluding how an Atom—fell—And yet the Heavens—held—The Heavens weighed the most—by far—Yet Blue—and solid—stood—Without a Bolt—that I could prove—Would Giants—understand?Life set me larger—problems—Some I shall keep—to solveTill Algebra is easier—Or simpler proved—above—Then—too&m dash;be comprehended—What sorer—puzzled me—Why Heaven did not break away—And tumble—Blue—on me—
