Today—her Only Boy
Went up from the Potomac—
His face all Victory
To look at her—How slowly
The Seasons must have turned
Till Bullets clipt an Angle
And He passed quickly round—
If pride shall be in Paradise—
Ourself cannot decide—
Of their imperial Conduct—
No person testified—
But, proud in Apparition—
That Woman and her Boy
Pass back and forth, before my Brain
As even in the sky—
I’m confident that Bravoes—
Perpetual break abroad
For Braveries, remote as this
In Scarlet Maryland—
Means Dominion –Warms some poor nameThat never felt the Sun,Gently replacingIn oblivion –
When a Lover is an OwnerDifferent is he –What he begged is then the Beggar –Oh disparity –Bread of Heaven resents bestowalLike an obloquy –
Bare your Jessamine—to the storm—And she will fling her maddest perfume—Haply—your Summer night to Charm—Stab the Bird—that built in your bosom—Oh, could you catch her last Refrain—Bubble! ‘forgive’—’Some better’—Bubble!‘Carol for Him—when I am gone’!
Denoted by the White—The Spangled Gowns, a lesser RankOf Victors—designate—All these—did conquer—But the ones who overcame most times—Wear nothing commoner than Snow—No Ornament, but Palms—Surrender—is a sort unknown—On this superior soil—Defeat—an outgrown Anguish—Remembered, as the MileOur panting Ankle barely passed—When Night devoured the Road—But we—stood whispering in the House—And all we said—was ‘Saved’!
Not any Trance of industryThese shadows scrutinize –Whose Allies go no more astrayFor service or for Glee –But all mankind deliver hereFrom whatsoever sea –
When I was carried by the farms,–It had the tassels on.I thought how yellow it would lookWhen Richard went to mill;And then I wanted to get out,But something held my will.I thought just how red apples wedgedThe stubble’s joints between;And carts went stooping round the fieldsTo take the pumpkins in.I wondered which would miss me…
